Ryanair Flight Emergency: Passenger Nearly Dragged Out of Window

A Ryanair holiday flight to Germany turned into a mid-air emergency when a passenger was nearly dragged out of a shattered window, with fellow travellers hauling him back inside as oxygen masks dropped and the cabin decompressed.

The drama unfolded shortly after takeoff from Thessaloniki on a flight bound for Memmingen, when a window reportedly broke after being struck by debris from one of the aircraft’s engines while the plane was flying over North Macedonia.

Most people were asleep. The cabin was quiet, dimmed, that familiar post-takeoff lull. Then came the sound.

“A noise, like a tire bursting,” a passenger told Radio Thessaloniki, as reported by AFP. In an instant, calm turned to chaos. Pressure dropped, screams cut through the cabin and oxygen masks fell from the ceiling.

“We immediately realised there had been a decompression,” the woman said. For a brief, terrifying moment, she thought someone had opened an emergency exit.

Near the damaged window, a Serbian tourist found himself pinned against the opening. His head and shoulders were forced outside the aircraft, saved only by his seat belt and the passengers around him who grabbed hold and pulled.

“The head and shoulders of one passenger were outside the window. Fortunately, he hadn't taken off his seat belt,” the witness said. Those seated nearby clung to him and dragged him back in as the aircraft hurtled through the sky.

Authorities later said the man, a tourist from Serbia, was taken to hospital with friction burns but was otherwise in good condition.

Greek media reported that a piece of engine debris had smashed into the window, causing the failure and rapid decompression. That detail has not been elaborated on by the airline, but it matches the account of those on board who described the sudden noise and violent rush of air.

Ryanair confirmed the incident in a statement, saying the flight “returned to Thessaloniki shortly after takeoff when a passenger window detached during the flight. The aircraft landed normally and the passengers returned to the terminal.”

No injuries beyond the Serbian passenger’s burns have been reported. The crew brought the aircraft back to Thessaloniki without further incident, ending a flight that, for a few minutes, had teetered on the edge of disaster.

Once on the ground, Ryanair arranged a replacement aircraft to take the remaining passengers on to Memmingen, the Irish carrier said.

The scare leaves investigators to piece together how a modern jet, minutes into a routine European hop, ended up with a blown-out window and a passenger half outside the aircraft — and how close this came to being far worse.