Wife's Heroic Actions Saved Passenger Sucked From Ryanair Plane Window
A terrifying incident saw a passenger partially sucked out of a shattered window at 20,000 feet, with his wife and fellow travelers ultimately saving him.
A mid-flight emergency unfolded on a Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany, when a passenger window shattered, reportedly sucking a man partially out of the aircraft. The passenger, believed to be a 61-year-old Serbian national, was left hanging up to his shoulders outside the plane at an altitude of approximately 20,000 feet.
Fellow travelers recounted that the man's wife desperately held onto his legs for about five minutes, preventing him from being pulled further from the cabin. Other passengers then assisted in pulling him back inside the aircraft. During the ordeal, oxygen masks deployed from the ceiling, and passengers expressed fears for their lives.
"We thought we were falling," one witness said, describing the injured passenger as having blood on his head and fainting multiple times. "We were wearing oxygen masks, we didn't know if we would make it."
Another passenger speaking to local radio described hearing a noise like a "tire had burst" followed by panic and a sudden loss of altitude due to decompression. "For a moment I thought someone had accidentally opened the emergency door," the passenger recalled, noting that flight attendants appeared distressed.
The Boeing 737-800 was forced to make an emergency landing back at its departure airport in Thessaloniki. According to flight data, the plane was in the air for one hour and 14 minutes. A Ryanair spokesperson confirmed that a passenger window dislodged inflight and that the aircraft landed normally. One passenger received medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki.
Greek media has speculated that the incident may have been caused by debris from one of the plane's engines detaching and striking the window. The injured passenger sustained wounds to his neck, abrasions, and burns, and is reported to be conscious but in shock. A pregnant woman on board was also taken to the hospital as a precaution but has since been released.
To minimize passenger delay, a replacement aircraft was arranged, departing Thessaloniki later that morning. The incident occurred shortly after takeoff, around 5:55 a.m. local time.