A 61-year-old man was partially sucked out of a Ryanair flight on Friday morning after a window shattered next to him, shortly after takeoff from Thessaloniki, Greece. The passenger was pulled headfirst out the window when the glass broke, according to Greek news website Newsit, as reported by The Guardian.
Incident Details
The window failure occurred after a piece of the plane’s engine broke off and struck the window, two sources with knowledge of the incident told Reuters. A Ryanair spokesperson confirmed to HuffPost that a passenger window “dislodged inflight” shortly after takeoff. The aircraft, a Boeing 737 MAX, landed normally, and passengers returned to the terminal. The affected passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground. A replacement aircraft was arranged to continue the flight to Memmingen, in southern Germany.
Passenger Accounts
“There were screams … for a moment I thought someone had accidentally opened the emergency door,” passenger Christina told Radio Thessaloniki, according to the BBC. “The masks dropped and there was a strong smell. The head and shoulders of one passenger were outside the window. Fortunately, he hadn’t taken off his seat belt.”
Videos posted on social media showed the broken window and oxygen masks hanging throughout the cabin.
Comparison to Previous Incident
In 2018, a woman died after a window broke on a Southwest Airlines flight in the U.S., partially sucking her out of the plane. That incident also involved engine shrapnel striking the fuselage. The woman, who was wearing her seat belt, died from blunt force trauma to her head, neck and torso, an investigation found.
