A shocking mid-flight incident on a Ryanair Group flight left aviation authorities and passengers shaken Friday, after a passenger came perilously close to being sucked out of a broken cabin window shortly after takeoff from northern Greece. The affected flight, operated by Ryanair’s subsidiary Malta Air, was traveling from Thessaloniki to Memmingen, Germany, carrying dozens of passengers when the emergency unfolded. According to witness accounts shared with local media, the passenger — a 66-year-old Serbian national — ended up hanging head-first out of the broken window, with only his lower body remaining inside the cabin for several minutes, before other travelers on board pulled him back to safety.
In an official statement released shortly after the incident, Ryanair confirmed that the flight was forced to turn around and return to Thessaloniki Airport immediately after departure, when a passenger window became dislodged during the climb to cruising altitude. The budget carrier confirmed that the aircraft landed without further incident, and all passengers were able to exit safely to the terminal. The 60-year-old passenger affected by the incident requested on-site medical assistance, which was provided to him on the ground in Thessaloniki. To minimize disruption to the remaining passengers’ travel plans, Ryanair arranged a replacement aircraft that completed the journey to Memmingen several hours after the original incident.
Multiple passenger accounts shared with Greek and German media outlets have offered more detailed accounts of the chaotic emergency. Passengers reported that moments after the Boeing 737-800 lifted off from Thessaloniki, a loud bang echoed through the cabin before the window shattered, triggering the aircraft’s emergency oxygen mask deployment. Witnesses have hypothesized that the window was broken by flying debris from one of the jet’s engines, though Ryanair has not yet issued any comment confirming or denying this account of the cause.
Christina, one of the passengers on board the flight, spoke with local outlet Radio Thessaloniki about the terrifying moments immediately after the window failed. “We immediately realized there had been a decompression. There were screams… for a moment I thought someone had accidentally opened the emergency door,” she recalled. “The masks dropped and there was a strong smell [of jet fuel]. The head and shoulders of one passenger were outside the window. Fortunately, he hadn’t taken off his seat belt.” That seat belt, multiple witnesses noted, is what prevented the man from being fully pulled out of the aircraft into the thin, high-speed outside air.
The aircraft involved in the incident is reported to be 18 years old, a detail that may draw additional scrutiny during the official investigation. The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) confirmed to the BBC that it had been notified of the incident, which occurred on an aircraft registered and operated by Malta Air, a fully-owned subsidiary of the Irish Ryanair Group. “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 in a statement.
This incident is not the first of its kind in recent aviation history. In 2018, a fatal accident on a U.S.-based Southwest Airlines flight saw a passenger die after engine debris shattered a cabin window, leading to the passenger being partially sucked out of the opening. That incident prompted widespread reviews of engine safety protocols and aircraft maintenance schedules across the global aviation industry. Investigators from Greek and Maltese aviation authorities are expected to release a full report once they complete their examination of the aircraft and interviews with crew and passengers.