The chief executive of Ryanair has disputed reports that a passenger injured on one of its flights in July was partly sucked out of a broken window. The incident occurred on July 10, shortly after takeoff, on a flight from northern Greece to Germany.
Ljubisa Karovic sustained injuries to his neck and shoulder, along with friction burns, after the window shattered. According to Karovic's wife and witnesses, the rapid pressure drop caused his head and shoulders to be pulled toward the opening. His wife stated that she held onto his legs while other passengers assisted in pulling him back into the cabin.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary confirmed Karovic was injured and entitled to compensation, but he refuted the extent of the passenger's alleged exposure. "He wasn’t partially out the window," O’Leary said, speaking after the airline's annual general meeting in Dublin. "We don’t think any part of his body got out the window, but he was certainly sucked in very dramatic circumstances towards the window."
During the event, Karovic was wearing a seat belt. Flight attendants intervened to assist, and a metal box provided by the crew was used to cover the damaged window. The plane returned safely to Greece.
A preliminary report from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board indicated that the window shattered due to impacts from fragments of a broken fan blade in the Boeing 737-800's right engine. These fragments also damaged the fuselage and other sections of the aircraft.
Flight attendants reported to investigators that they heard and felt a loud, continuous vibration and observed smoke or fog filling the cabin before the oxygen masks deployed from the ceiling.