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Window Shatters Mid-Flight
A Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki, Greece to Memmingen, Germany suffered an engine failure and a cabin window dislodged inflight, pulling Serbian passenger Ljubiša Karović headfirst toward the opening.
The wife of Karović, Svetlana Grković, told Serbian outlet Nova that when the window broke “When the window broke, there was decompression. The pressure pulled Ljubiša out.”
Grković said Karović was “outside up to his chest” for two minutes while she grabbed his legs and held on until other passengers helped pull him back inside.
The incident occurred on Friday 10 July on the flight that departed shortly before 6 of mattino, and the aircraft later touched down back in Thessaloniki after the crew reversed course.
Tgcom24 said Karović is still hospitalized and “non riesce a parlare per le ferite,” with the wife describing his injuries as grave ustioni and fratture.
Wife’s Quote, Investigation
Grković described the moment she clung to her husband as she held his legs, saying “If we die, we die together” while the cabin decompressed.
The Guardian reported her account that “Half of his body was sticking out of the plane,” and said Karović lost consciousness three times as passengers rushed to help.
Ryanair said in a statement that the flight “returned to Thessaloniki shortly after take-off when a passenger window dislodged in flight,” and added that the aircraft landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal.
Thessaloniki airport’s operator Fraport Greece said the incident was “currently under investigation by the Hellenic Air and Rail Safety Investigation Authority,” and the investigation is being led by North Macedonia as the state of occurrence.
USA Today reported that the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the incident and said it was willing to support the investigation with the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority and the NTSB.
Tourism Travel Disruption
The flight had been carrying about a hundred tourists, and the incident forced an emergency return to Thessaloniki after the window dislodged inflight.
Lower Bucks Times said the jet declared an emergency and landed safely back in Thessaloniki about 45 minutes later, and that remaining passengers continued to Germany on a replacement aircraft later that morning.
The Star and other outlets linked the ordeal to holiday travel, describing the couple as traveling from Greece’s Thessaloniki to Germany’s Memmingen on the Malta Air-operated Ryanair flight.
Tgcom24 said the incident happened while the aircraft was over the Macedonia del Nord, and it described the pilot noticing a problem to the engine and deciding to invert the route and return.
For Karović, the stakes described by multiple outlets were immediate medical harm and communication limits, with Tgcom24 saying he cannot speak and USA Today reporting he was battling serious physical and psychological trauma.
