A man was nearly bitten on the head by a cabin window mid-air on a Ryanair flight, passengers said.
Tracking data shows the plane had been in the air for about 10 minutes when it suddenly descended at 9,000ft (2,700m), with passengers telling local media they heard “some sort of explosion”.
A Greek hospital official said a 61-year-old man of Serbian origin was treated for burns from the collision. “His wife held him by the legs for five minutes so he wouldn’t be sucked in,” said Michalis Giannakos.
In a statement, Ryanair said its Friday morning flight from the Greek city of Thessaloniki to Memmingen in Germany returned “shortly after takeoff when the passenger window exited the aircraft”.
“The flight landed normally and the passengers returned to the airport. One passenger requested and received medical attention on the ground in Thessaloniki,” the Irish budget airline said.
It added that “a replacement flight has been arranged to bring the passengers to Memmingen” after a few hours.
Passengers told local media that the man was left hanging headfirst out of the window up to his shoulders before other passengers were able to get him back inside.
Those on board also said the window had been smashed by pieces of the plane’s engine – although Ryanair has yet to comment on this.
“We immediately realized that there was a loss of consciousness. There was a cry… for a moment I thought that someone had accidentally opened the emergency door,” Christina, who was also on board, told Radio Thessaloniki.
“The masks came down and there was a strong smell. One passenger’s head and shoulders were outside the window. Luckily he hadn’t taken off his seatbelt.”
Another passenger, Sofia, told Radio Thessaloniki: “When the oxygen masks fell, we didn’t know what was going to happen. We didn’t know if we were going to put it back. We were sitting in the back of the plane, and we realized that there was some kind of explosion.
“We thought the plane was going down. The collapse was extreme. It was as if we couldn’t breathe. The injured man was bleeding and then fainted several times, probably due to lack of oxygen and shock,” added Sofia.
Michalis Giannakos, president of the Panhellenic Federation of Public Hospital Employees, later said that a 61-year-old Serbian man was being treated at the hospital as a result of the conflict.
“He is still shocked, he is still unconscious,” he added.
The plane – believed to be an 18-year-old aircraft – was operated by Ryanair’s subsidiary Malta Air.
An operator at the Thessaloniki airport, Fraport Greece, said “the incident is currently under investigation by the Hellenic Air and Rail Safety Investigation Authority”.
Fraport Greece added that it is “fully cooperating with all relevant stakeholders and implementing the established emergency response procedures following the forced return of the aircraft”.
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) previously told the BBC it was aware of the incident and would provide any assistance to investigators.
Chris Brady, a retired pilot, told the BBC that the incident “could have been a lot worse” if the seatbelt had not been worn.
“We are doing as the captains always say to the passengers, please fasten your seat belts as a safety measure on the plane, even when we close the seat belt signs.
“And it’s for this type of thing or to meet with chaos or whatever. So it’s good practice to leave your seat belts on,” he said.
In 2018, a passenger died when debris from a damaged engine caused a window to break on a Southwest Airlines flight in the US, and was partially suffocated.
Additional reporting by Mark Allison and Nikos Papanikolaou
