Ljubisa Karovic, a 61-year-old Serbian businessman, has spoken about the moment he was partially sucked out of a window during a Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany, on July 10. He suffered neck and shoulder injuries and recalls an explosion and noise before the chaos.
Passenger rescued by fellow travelers
Fellow passengers held onto Karovic and pulled him back into the plane. He remembers little of the incident but feels lucky to be alive. "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 told The Guardian. "I am lucky. My head and neck still hurt, but I am alive."
Karovic is wearing a neck brace for at least six weeks and may require surgery. His wife, Svetlana, who was seated behind him, expressed gratitude to a passenger she believes is Albanian for helping rescue her husband. "He did all he could to bring him in and then tried to block the window, first with a bag that was immediately sucked out and then with a suitcase, which worked," she told The Guardian.
Investigation handed to US agency
Ryanair stated that the plane returned to Thessaloniki shortly after takeoff when a passenger window dislodged in-flight. The plane landed normally, and one passenger received medical assistance. On July 16, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the US took over the investigation, as the incident occurred in Greek airspace and international rules allow Greece's Hellenic Air and Rail Safety Investigation Authority to hand it over.
Svetlana previously recounted the mid-air emergency: "I reacted immediately and grabbed his legs. I thought: 'If we die, we die together.' It was horrible."
