New footage has emerged showing the severe damage to a Ryanair aircraft's engine and a shattered window, following an incident where a passenger was nearly sucked out of the plane at 20,000 feet. The flight was traveling from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany.
The footage, circulated on social media, reveals one of the engine's nacelles, or protective pods, to be shredded, with a blade missing. The view then shifts to a blown-out window.
Passengers reported hearing a noise described as "like a tire bursting" shortly after takeoff. The cabin experienced immediate and dangerous decompression. "We immediately realized there had been a decompression. There were screams… for a moment I thought someone had accidentally opened the emergency door," one passenger told Radio Thessaloniki, according to Agence France Presse. "The masks dropped and there was a strong smell."
A 61-year-old Serbian man was reportedly pulled out of the window up to his shoulders. He had fortunately remained secured by his seatbelt. Fellow passengers managed to hold onto him and pull him back into the cabin. Michalis Giannakos, president of the Panhellenic Federation of Public Hospital Employees, confirmed the rescue effort.
The Serbian passenger is currently receiving treatment for friction burns sustained during the incident.
A spokesperson for Ryanair confirmed that the flight returned to Thessaloniki shortly after takeoff on Friday morning due to a dislodged passenger window. "The aircraft landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal. One passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki," the spokesperson said.