Ryanair passenger sucked through plane window after engine failure on a flight from Greece to Germany
Investigators have revealed the terrifying chain of events that left a passenger partially sucked through a Ryanair plane window.
A passenger was left seriously injured after broken engine fragments smashed through the window of a Ryanair plane, causing his head and shoulder to be sucked partially outside the aircraft, investigators have revealed.
A preliminary report from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has shed new light on the terrifying July 10 incident, which unfolded shortly after the flight took off from Thessaloniki, Greece, bound for Memmingen, Germany.
Investigators said an engine fan blade broke during the plane’s climb, sending debris towards the aircraft and shattering a cabin window.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Serbian passenger Ljubisa Karović was sitting beside the damaged window when his head and right shoulder were sucked through the opening, leaving him “seriously injured and in shock”.
His wife, Svetlana Grković Maksimović, previously told BBC Serbia that she and two other passengers desperately held onto his legs for several minutes.
The NTSB said the aircraft “experienced a No. 2 (right) engine fan-blade-out (FBO) failure during climb out”.
“The crew elected to return to SKG (Thessaloniki International Airport) where they made an uneventful landing.”
Greek authorities subsequently delegated the investigation into the incident to the NTSB.
The preliminary report also detailed the dramatic sequence of events inside the cockpit before the emergency landing.
The flight crew initially received a “high vibration” alert from the engine while the aircraft was climbing, BBC reported.
Pilots responded by reducing the engine’s power and carrying out a series of checks. When the vibrations stopped, the aircraft continued climbing on autopilot.
However, the problem soon returned.
Investigators said the vibrations increased before the crew heard a loud bang, prompting the pilots to declare an emergency and begin descending back towards Thessaloniki.
Flight attendants also reported hearing and feeling the vibrations and noticing a small amount of smoke before oxygen masks were deployed inside the cabin.
One flight attendant then noticed passengers desperately calling for help after a man became “partially lodged in a damaged cabin window”.
The report said the entire window was missing.
Despite the dramatic engine failure, the aircraft was able to return safely to Thessaloniki International Airport.
Investigators said the engine had undergone ultrasonic inspections in May, just two months before the incident, with no faults detected.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary previously suggested the engine failure may have been caused by “foreign object damage”.
The aircraft involved in the incident was operated by Ryanair subsidiary Malta Air.
The investigation into the engine failure remains ongoing.
