Athens: Passengers on board a Ryanair flight, bound from Greece to Germany, had a harrowing experience on Friday morning after debris from a failed engine shattered a cabin window, nearly sucking out one of them from the aircraft.
The Boeing 737-800 aircraft made a dramatic emergency landing in Greece and the passenger was rushed to hospital with serious injuries.
According to reports, Ryanair flight FR1879 had just departed Thessaloniki International Airport “Macedonia” en route to Memmingen, Germany, when it suffered a catastrophic engine failure while cruising over neighbouring North Macedonia.
A fragment from the malfunctioning engine detached and struck the side of the aircraft, smashing through a passenger window, aviation authorities said. The sudden loss of cabin pressure triggered an immediate decompression event, deploying oxygen masks and sparking widespread panic among the passengers, as reported by News18.
The worst suffered was a 61-year-old Serbian national seated next to the window. The powerful rush of escaping
air pulled the upper half of his body out of the shattered window frame, Euronews reported.
The terrifying details were confirmed by Michalis Giannakos, president of the Panhellenic Federation of Public Hospital Employees (POEDIN). “The passenger’s upper body was pulled out into the air, and he was desperately restrained by his wife,” he said.
Reports said that the flight crew immediately declared a full emergency and executed a rapid descent, turning the aircraft back toward Thessaloniki. Emergency vehicles and medical teams were waiting on the tarmac when the plane landed without further incident.
The man, who sustained severe injuries to his shoulders and upper body during the ordeal, was rushed to a local hospital. Four other passengers were also evaluated and treated for minor injuries and shock. The remaining passengers were returned to the terminal.
Ryanair issued a statement in which it confirmed the diversion, but downplayed the severity of the engine failure, attributing the emergency primarily to the window failure.
“A Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen on Friday morning (10 July) returned to Thessaloniki shortly after take-off 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.”
A replacement aircraft was quickly arranged to transport the remaining passengers to Memmingen to minimise further delays, the airline added.
An investigation into the root cause of the engine malfunction and the subsequent fuselage damage is currently underway by aviation safety authorities.