A passenger on a Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany, was reportedly pulled back into the cabin after being partially sucked out of a window that dislodged mid-flight. The incident prompted the Boeing 737-800 to return to its departure airport.
The flight took off as scheduled at 5:55 a.m. local time on Friday, July 10. Shortly after reaching an altitude of approximately 6,000 meters (about 19,700 feet), a loud bang was heard on board, according to witnesses who spoke to the German Press Agency (dpa).
A witness told the German outlet that a window shattered. Shortly thereafter, a man seated next to the window was reportedly pulled partly out of the aircraft. "His head and shoulders were sticking out of the broken window," another eyewitness told Greek broadcaster ERT.
The man's wife is said to have held onto his legs for approximately five minutes while fellow passengers helped pull him back into the cabin. Oxygen masks deployed during the event.
"A Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen on Friday morning returned to Thessaloniki shortly after take-off when a passenger window dislodged inflight," a Ryanair spokesperson told the Daily Mail. "The aircraft landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal."
According to the airline, one passenger requested and received medical assistance upon landing in Thessaloniki. A replacement aircraft was arranged, departing Thessaloniki at 9:53 a.m. local time to take passengers to Memmingen, in an effort to minimize delays.
Flight data indicated the Ryanair plane returned to Thessaloniki about one hour and 14 minutes after its initial departure. The injured passenger is reported to be a 61-year-old Serbian national.