Ryanair passenger suffers injuries after being partially sucked out of a window during a mid-air emergency over Greece.
A Ryanair flight made an emergency landing in Greece on Friday after a passenger was partially sucked through a dislodged window shortly after take-off, according to airport sources.
The Boeing 737 NG aircraft was travelling from Thessaloniki to Memmingen in Germany when it returned to Thessaloniki after a passenger window came loose during the flight.
“The aircraft landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal,” Ryanair said in a statement.
The injured passenger, a Serbian national, was taken to AHEPA University General Hospital in Thessaloniki. The Serbian consulate said his injuries were not life-threatening, although doctors were still assessing his condition.
Serbian media quoted a passenger as saying the man’s head and shoulders were pulled outside the aircraft before fellow passengers managed to pull him back inside.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed the aircraft was a Boeing 737 NG, the generation before the 737 MAX.
Boeing said it was assisting an investigation being led by North Macedonia.
“We remain in contact with and continue to support our customer, Ryanair,” the company said.
Local media reported that part of an engine broke away and smashed a window shortly after take-off, causing cabin decompression. Two airport sources familiar with the incident gave Reuters the same account.
A video shared on social media appeared to show an uncontained engine failure, with several fan blades missing. Such failures occur when engine components break apart and escape the engine casing.
Flight tracking data showed the aircraft returned to Thessaloniki shortly after departure on Friday.
The same aircraft also turned back to Thessaloniki on a flight to Sarajevo on Thursday evening, although the reason for that diversion remains unclear.
The FAA confirmed that a window broke during Friday’s flight and said it was prepared to support the investigation. Serbian state television also aired footage showing the damaged window inside the aircraft.
Ryanair’s Boeing 737 NG fleet is powered by CFM56 engines manufactured by CFM International, a joint venture between General Electric and Safran. The engine maker declined to comment.
Unverified videos circulating on social media showed a shattered window and oxygen masks hanging from the cabin ceiling.
The aircraft remains grounded in Thessaloniki while investigators examine the cause of the incident.
The accident has drawn comparisons with a 2018 Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 NG engine failure, when a broken fan blade shattered a window and partially pulled a passenger out of the aircraft. The passenger later died, marking the first fatality on a US passenger airline in nine years.
Following that crash, the US National Transportation Safety Board recommended that Boeing redesign the fan cowl structure on 737 NG aircraft. The FAA later ordered the redesign to be completed by July 2028.
Tammie Jo Shults, the pilot who safely landed the Southwest flight in 2018, said she was struck by the similarities between the two incidents.
“They have an engine that goes out. There is external damage. It’s not just an engine that has quit working and so there’s more drag with that,” she said.