A Ryanair passenger's head was partially sucked out of a window mid-flight after the plane was hit by an engine part, a probe has discovered. Ljubisa Karovic's head was partially sucked into the hole in the fuselage before fellow passengers pulled him to safety, US investigators said. The 61-year-old suffered neck and shoulder injuries and friction burns after an engine fan blade broke off on the Ryanair flight, sending parts flying that shattered a plane window shortly after take-off.
Incident details
Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling after the window broke and the cabin lost pressure during the flight from the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki on July 10. Passengers told Greek media they heard a loud bang before oxygen masks dropped and the plane began to lose altitude. Panic reportedly spread through the aircraft and some passengers screamed after the man was partially sucked out of the missing window.
The engine parts damaged the plane's fuselage in several other places alongside the window, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said in its report. The NTSB also said it found bird remains inside the engine, suggesting the plane may have struck birds as it took off.
Passenger account and airline response
One passenger told Radio Thessaloniki: "Most people had fallen asleep, we had closed our eyes. We heard a sound, I’d describe it like a tyre bursting … but very loud. We knew straight away we lost pressure because we lost altitude."
At the time, Ryanair said in a statement that the flight "returned to Thessaloniki shortly after take-off when a passenger window dislodged in-flight". But the NTSB said the plane had a right engine issue during the flight.
Flight path and aftermath
Records showed that the aircraft climbed past 15,000 feet about six minutes after departure and then immediately descended to around 6,000 feet "to burn fuel for 30 minutes" before returning to Thessaloniki about an hour after taking off, according to tracking website Flightradar24. The plane landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal, with one passenger requesting and receiving medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki, the airline said.
