Wife of man sucked out of Ryanair jet window reveals battle to avoid wasting him at 20,000ft | News World

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The wife of a person who was sucked through the broken window on a Ryanair flight described how she hung onto his legs.

Ljubiša Karović’s holiday flight from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany, became a life-and-death battle when his upper body was drawn through the window of the Boeing 737.

His wife, Svetlana Grković, and other passengers became the one thing holding him in as they clung to his legs after a part of the engine fell off and broke the window.

The ordeal unfolded when the window smashed in a loud bang shortly after takeoff.

Ljubiša Karović was sitting just inches from the window when it suddenly broke (Picture: Despoina Papapavlou via Reuters)

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The force of the decompression siphoned Mr Karović through the opening within the shattered window as he was seated next to it.

His wife managed to grab onto his legs for around five minutes, and other passengers helped her to tug the injured man back in, who had lost consciousness while his head was outside the aircraft.

She told Serbian Nova outlet: ‘The pressure pulled Ljubisa, luckily he was strapped in, but half of his body was protruding of the plane.

Ljubisa Karovic and Svetlana Grkovic, who almost fell out of the Ryanair plane as the window completely broke off during the flight.
Ljubiša Karović was saved from being sucked out of the Ryanair plane because of his wife, Svetlana Grković, who clung onto his legs (Picture: Facebook)
A broken window of the Ryanair aircraft, following a reported emergency landing, in location given as Thessaloniki, Greece, July 10, 2026,
The state of the Boeing 7373 window after it broke (Picture: Despoina Papapavlou via Reuters)

‘I immediately reacted and grabbed his legs.

‘I believed: ‘If we die, we die together’. It was horrible.’

She described the chaos that broke out contained in the plane as masks fell off attributable to the pressure drop.

Some people rushed to assist her, and Ms Grković remembers ‘one man and one woman.’

‘That man helped me rather a lot,’ she said, adding that she would really like to thank him in person.

The interior of the Ryanair aircraft, following a reported emergency landing, in location given as Thessaloniki, Greece, July 10, 2026,
Oxygen masks fell out contained in the Boeing 737 after the cabin pressure dropped when the window smashed (Picture: Despoina Papapavlou via Reuters)

Mr Karović was seriously hurt and shocked, along with his hand badly burned.

He stays in hospital and is unable to talk after the ordeal, his wife revealed.

What struck her within the moment of panic was the response of a mum sitting opposite, who hugged her child so tight she thought she would suffocate him, Ms Grković said.

The plane is claimed to have flown for one more half-hour with the broken window before an emergency landing, leaving people fearing they wouldn’t make it, in response to the Greek broadcaster ERT.

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One passenger, who was sat behind the plane, said they didn’t realise at first what had happened.

They said: ‘We thought we were falling.

‘We were wearing oxygen masks, we didn’t know if we’d make it.’

A Ryanair spokesperson told Metro: ‘A Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen on Friday morning (July 10) returned to Thessaloniki shortly after take-off when a passenger window dislodged inflight.

‘The aircraft landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal. One passenger requested and received medical assistance on the bottom in Thessaloniki. With a view to minimise any delay, a alternative aircraft was arranged to bring passengers to Memmingen which departed Thessaloniki at 9:53 local this morning.’

A person was nearly sucked out of an Alaska Airlines flight when the door blew out on the Boeing 737 jet.

He was saved by his seatbelt, however the rapid depressurisation sucked away his iPhone and socks.

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