Ryanair flight returns after passenger window dislodges midair

A Ryanair flight from Greece to Germany returned to Thessaloniki shortly after takeoff Friday after a passenger window dislodged in midair, leaving one man reportedly hanging partly outside the aircraft before other passengers pulled him back in.

Ryanair said the flight to Memmingen, Germany, “returned to Thessaloniki shortly after takeoff when a passenger window dislodged inflight.” The airline said the aircraft “landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal.”

“One passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki,” Ryanair said, adding that a replacement aircraft was arranged to take passengers to Memmingen several hours later.

Authorities said the passenger, described by CBS News as a tourist from Serbia, was hospitalized with friction burns but was otherwise in good condition. The BBC, citing witness accounts, reported that the man was a Serbian citizen in his 60s and was left hanging headfirst out of the window as far as his shoulders for several minutes.

Passengers described a sudden loud noise, rapid decompression and oxygen masks dropping from the ceiling shortly after the Boeing 737 took off.

“Most of us had fallen asleep, we had closed our eyes. There was a noise, like a tire bursting,” a fellow passenger told Radio Thessaloniki, according to CBS News.

“We immediately realized there had been a decompression. There were screams… for a moment I thought someone had accidentally opened the emergency door,” the passenger, identified by the BBC as Christina, said. “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.”

Other passengers seated nearby helped pull the man back inside, the witness said.

Greek and German media reports quoted passengers saying they believed the window was struck by pieces from one of the jet’s engines. Greek media reported the incident occurred over North Macedonia and said the window had been broken by debris that detached from an engine. Ryanair has not commented on that reported cause.

Video circulated on social media appeared to show the inside of the plane after the incident, with a broken window and oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling, CBS News reported. The network said it could not independently verify the video and that no passengers were visible in it.

The aircraft was operated by Malta Air, a Ryanair subsidiary, the BBC reported. The BBC also said the plane was believed to be 18 years old.

The Irish Aviation Authority told the BBC it “is aware of the incident involving a Ryanair group aircraft, registered and operated by Malta Air, departing Thessaloniki this morning.”

“The IAA will provide any requested assistance to the aviation safety investigation authority in Greece and the Maltese Civil Aviation Directorate, to aid their investigation,” the authority said.

A similar incident in the United States in 2018 killed a passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight after debris from a damaged engine broke a window and she was partially sucked out. An aviation expert told CBS News at the time that a person can be pulled out of a broken airplane window in flight if not wearing a seat belt because of the pressure rushing through the opening.