The wife of a man who was partially sucked out of a Ryanair plane window at 20,000 feet has described how she and other passengers clung to his legs for five minutes to save him.
Holiday flight turns into nightmare
Ljubiša Karović was on a Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany, when part of the engine broke off and shattered a window shortly after takeoff. The decompression sucked his upper body through the opening. His wife, Svetlana Grković, grabbed his legs and held on, with help from other passengers.
“The pressure pulled Ljubisa, luckily he was strapped in, but half of his body was sticking out of the plane,” she told Serbian outlet Nova. “I immediately reacted and grabbed his legs. I thought: ‘If we die, we die together’. It was horrible.”
Chaos and heroism on board
Ms Grković recalled the chaos as oxygen masks dropped and passengers rushed to help. She said one man and one woman assisted her. “That man helped me a lot,” she said, adding she would like to thank him in person. The ordeal lasted about five minutes before they pulled Mr Karović back inside. He had lost consciousness and suffered a badly burned hand. He remains in hospital and is unable to speak.
Ms Grković also noted the reaction of a mother sitting opposite, who hugged her child so tightly she feared she would suffocate him.
Plane flew for 30 minutes with broken window
According to Greek broadcaster ERT, the aircraft flew for another 30 minutes with the broken window before making an emergency landing back in Thessaloniki. One passenger at the back said they thought the plane was falling. “We were wearing oxygen masks, we didn’t know if we would make it,” they said.
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “A Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen on Friday morning (July 10) returned to Thessaloniki shortly after take-off when a passenger window dislodged inflight. The aircraft landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal. One passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki. In order to minimise any delay, a replacement aircraft was arranged to bring passengers to Memmingen which departed Thessaloniki at 9:53 local this morning.”
