A shocking mid-flight incident on a Ryanair passenger jet left a Serbian tourist fighting for his life Friday, after a cabin window detached mid-air while the plane was traveling from Greece to Germany, pulling the man partially out of the aircraft before fellow passengers dragged him back to safety.
The event unfolded shortly after the flight departed Thessaloniki, Greece, bound for Memmingen, Germany. According to eyewitness accounts shared with local media, most passengers had already settled in for the short journey and many had fallen asleep when a sudden, explosive noise similar to a bursting tire jolted the entire cabin awake. Within seconds, the plane suffered rapid cabin decompression, oxygen masks deployed across the aircraft, and panicked screams filled the cabin. Many passengers initially feared that an emergency door had been accidentally opened, one traveler told Radio Thessaloniki.
In the chaos, passengers realized that the window next to the Serbian tourist had completely detached from the fuselage. The force of the outward air pressure had pulled the man’s head and shoulders out of the opening, leaving him hanging mid-air at thousands of feet above the ground. Miraculously, the passenger had kept his seat belt fastened, which stopped him from being fully sucked out of the plane. Travelers sitting nearby immediately rushed to grab the man and pulled him back into the cabin, saving his life.
Greek media reports indicate the incident took place over North Macedonia, and that the window was shattered when a piece of debris broke loose from one of the plane’s engines. Following the emergency, the flight crew made an immediate decision to turn the aircraft around and return to Thessaloniki for an emergency landing. Ryanair confirmed the incident in an official statement, noting that the plane landed normally without further complications, and all passengers were safely evacuated to the terminal.
The injured tourist was transferred to a local hospital for treatment. Authorities confirmed he suffered friction burns from the incident, but is otherwise in stable condition. Ryanair, the Irish low-cost carrier, arranged for a replacement aircraft to be deployed to Thessaloniki to transport the remaining passengers to their original destination in Memmingen after the incident was resolved.