Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary has contested a passenger's assertion that his head and arm were pulled through a shattered airplane window. O'Leary stated that "no part of his body got out" after Ljubisa Karovic, 61, sustained severe injuries when a window on a Ryanair flight from Greece to Germany broke in July.
Karovic's lawyer reported that the Serbian businessman had to be pulled back into the aircraft after his head and right arm were drawn through the window during a sudden cabin depressurization. However, O'Leary rejected this narrative, explaining on Thursday that Karovic was "certainly sucked towards the window" but did not go through it.
"He wasn't partially out the window. Part of his face didn't get out the window," O'Leary said following the airline's annual general meeting in Dublin, as reported by The Guardian. "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."
O'Leary added that Karovic was wearing his seatbelt and confirmed that Ryanair would dispute any claims that a portion of his body passed through the opening. He emphasized that he was "not trying to downplay" the incident and that the airline would await the findings of an investigation by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Karovic maintains that his seatbelt prevented him from being fully pulled out of the aircraft after he lost consciousness, while his wife Svetlana stated that another passenger helped pull him back inside. She told The Guardian she witnessed her husband "half in and out of the plane" and described how a fellow passenger attempted to block the broken window with a bag and then a suitcase.
Karovic was seated in seat 11F on the flight from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany, when the window fractured approximately 20 minutes after takeoff on July 10. Preliminary reports suggest that broken engine parts struck the cabin window while the plane was at an altitude of 16,000 feet, leading to the rapid decompression.
Footage from the incident showed passengers holding oxygen masks while shattered glass was visible in the cabin and wind rushed in. The video also captured passengers attempting to restrain Karovic, a struggle that reportedly lasted up to two minutes before he was pulled back inside.
One passenger, Eleni Kyranou, 33, described the event as haunting, stating, "I did what I could to help a person, to save a life. But it still haunts me, the images and the sound has stayed with me."
Karovic, who spent six days in the hospital, recounted hearing a "deafening explosion" and remembers little else. Witnesses described him as dangling diagonally from the aircraft, with the wind distorting his face. He is now experiencing acute neck and shoulder pain, requiring him to wear a neck brace for six weeks, and has been treated for burns to his face, right hand, and arm.
The NTSB is leading the investigation, in accordance with international aviation regulations due to the Boeing jet being manufactured in the U.S. A preliminary NTSB report indicated a broken fan blade, though the cause remains undetermined. Maintenance records for the engine's blades showed no damage during inspections in May 2026 and November 2025. However, flight crews had reported four suspected bird strikes to the same engine in the preceding year, with bird remains found after two of those incidents.