The wife of a Serbian passenger who was partially sucked out of a broken airplane window mid-flight described harrowing scenes aboard a Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki, saying her husband hung halfway outside the aircraft for nearly two minutes before fellow passengers managed to pull him back in.
"When the window broke, Ljubisa was out up to his chest, and stayed like that for almost two minutes," Svetlana Maksimovic Ivic told Greek broadcaster ERTnews, describing the incident. She said she was seated behind her husband when the window shattered, and that a nearby passenger grabbed his arm while three people worked together to pull him back inside the cabin.
Oxygen masks deployed and chaos ensued, she said, adding that her husband fainted three times during the ordeal.
Passengers attempted to block the opening with a suitcase, but it was pulled outward through the gap.
Ms. Maksimovic Ivic said her husband's seatbelt, which he had fastened, ultimately saved his life. She said flight attendants provided no assistance during the emergency and that no one from the airline has contacted the family since.
"The passengers were the ones who gave us water," she said.
Attorney Vasilis Tsiaras said records tied to the aircraft's registration number show it experienced a technical issue the previous day on a flight from Thessaloniki to Sarajevo that returned to Thessaloniki.
He said it remains unclear whether the incidents are connected, but argued Greece's Civil Aviation Authority bears responsibility for engine maintenance oversight.
Aviation expert Christos Glavopoulos told Greek broadcaster ERT the window was not dislodged but shattered after being struck by an object ejected from the engine, likely a fragment of a turbine blade, possibly caused by failure of a temperature sensor or fatigue-related blade fracture.
The 61-year-old Serbian passenger remains hospitalized at AHEPA Hospital with injuries to his neck and shoulder, along with friction burns.
Ms. Maksimovic Ivic said she remains in poor psychological condition and is currently taking sedatives following the incident.