A woman who saved her husband from being completely sucked out of a Ryanair plane mid-flight has said she thought as she held on to his legs: “If we die, we die together.” Ljubisa Karović was sucked headfirst out of the window after an engine failure caused parts to smash the acrylic pane.
His wife, Svetlana Grković, told Serbian outlet Nova that she immediately grabbed his legs and, with the help of two other passengers, pulled him back inside. She said he was “outside up to his chest” for two minutes and lost consciousness three times.
The incident occurred on a flight operated by Ryanair subsidiary Malta Air from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany. About ten minutes after takeoff, tracking data shows the plane suddenly dropped 9,000ft (2,700m). Passengers said Karović kept his seatbelt on and helped those holding him while his torso was in the slipstream.
The 61-year-old remains in hospital in Greece, “seriously injured and in shock”, according to his wife. “His hand is particularly badly injured, and he’s got burns. He’s not able to communicate, he doesn’t remember the whole event,” she said. Grković also thanked an Albanian man who assisted them, expressing a wish to meet him again.
Images show the shattered window caused oxygen masks to deploy as the cabin depressurised. One passenger told Radio Thessaloniki that those on board “thought the plane was going down”. Thessaloniki airport operator Fraport Greece said the incident is under investigation by the Hellenic Air and Rail Safety Investigation Authority. Ryanair stated the flight returned to Thessaloniki after a window dislodged, landed normally, and passengers were rebooked on a replacement aircraft the same day.
