Ljubisa Karović, the man who was partially sucked through a window on a Ryanair flight, has described the horrifying ordeal and the moments "before the chaos".
The 61-year-old Serbian national was travelling from Thessaloniki in Greece to Memmingen in Germany when the window next to him shattered, abruptly waking him up. Objects began flying through the air and out of the window as fellow passengers, including his wife, desperately tried to hold him down.
Injuries and recovery
Mr Karović was left with burns and bruises on his right arm, stretching from his armpit to his chest, and must wear a neck brace for at least six weeks.
Speaking to The Guardian, the interpreter said: "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. 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."
Lawyer describes ordeal
His lawyer, Vasilis Tsiaras, described the father of two as "being alive by mistake", saying he fainted two or three times during the terrifying incident.
Mr 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. He was on that plane heading to Germany to celebrate his brother’s birthday. Instead, at 15,000ft he ended up with his head and right arm outside the aircraft as it moved at a speed of more than 600km/h. Imagine that! He looked at death, that other world, and came back."
Claims of crew response
Mr Karović's wife Svetlana, who was sitting three rows behind him, said none of the cabin crew helped her husband, and another passenger tried to plug the broken window with luggage. Mr Tsiaras added: "At no point did the cabin crew offer to help."
Ryanair has disputed this, saying that during depressurisation and rapid descent to a lower altitude, passengers and crew are required to stay in their seats and put on oxygen masks. The airline said in a statement: "As soon as the aircraft descended to a safe altitude our cabin crew attended to and assisted Mr Karović, moving him to alternate seats (beside his wife) and arranged for a doctor onboard to sit with them until the aircraft landed safely back in Thessaloniki. They also arranged to have medical assistance standing by on landing in Thessaloniki."
