Ljubisa Karović, 61, from Serbia, was nearly pulled out of a Ryanair plane window before passengers held onto him and plugged the gap with a suitcase. He has now shared his account of the incident.
Passenger describes 'explosion'
Karović was sleeping on flight FR1879 from Greece to Germany when the window shattered. He told The Guardian: 'The explosion is what I remember. It's the noise before the chaos, the noise that is always there when I close my eyes to sleep.'
He was partially sucked out of the window before being pulled back in. He fainted two or three times during the ordeal, according to his lawyer.
Injuries and recovery
Karović suffered burns and bruises on his right arm, from his armpit to his chest, and is wearing a neck brace. He was rushed to hospital after landing. His Greek lawyer Vasilis Tsiaras said: 'Ljubisa dipped in and out of death. When the cabin lost pressure he was hurled out of the window from his chest up and immediately lost consciousness.'
Karović said: 'I am lucky. I don’t remember much and my head and neck still hurt but I am still alive. It could have been the seatbelt, the fact that I was still strapped in. But maybe it is fate. I believe in God and I thank him every day.'
Wife and passengers react
His wife Svetlana Grković, seated three rows behind, recalled how passengers held her husband in place and used a bag and then a suitcase to plug the hole. Ryanair said its cabin crew did a 'phenomenal job'. CEO Michael O'Leary said an initial investigation suggests 'foreign object damage to the engine on takeoff at Thessaloniki', but added 'we can't say that definitively'. He insisted the 18-year-old Boeing 737's engine had been fully serviced and overhauled in the past two years.
