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‘The explosion is what I remember’: man nearly sucked out of Ryanair plane recounts ordeal
Ljubisa Karović, a 61-year-old Serbian entrepreneur, has described the terrifying moment he was nearly sucked out of a Ryanair aircraft window mid-flight after the window shattered, leaving his head and right arm outside the plane as it travelled at more than 600km/h at 15,000ft. The incident, which happened on flight FR1879 from Greece to Germany, is remarkable both for the danger it posed and for the fact that Karović is believed to be the only person to have survived being partially ejected from an aircraft in this way, with the cause still under investigation.
Karović, who was strapped into his window seat, 11F, was roused by an explosive noise before losing consciousness as cabin pressure dropped. Fellow passengers, rather than cabin crew, intervened to save him, with one man using a bag and then a suitcase to block the shattered window after Karović's wife and others struggled to hold him in place for what is thought to have been one-and-a-half to two minutes. He suffered burns, bruising and ongoing head and neck pain, and was discharged from hospital roughly 100 hours before speaking to the Guardian, while Ryanair has defended its cabin crew's handling of the emergency.
In short
- Man partially sucked out of Ryanair plane window mid-flight, survives
- Passengers, not crew, used bags and a suitcase to hold him in
- Incident on flight FR1879 remains under investigation
Explained simply
Aircraft cabins maintain an internal air pressure much higher than the thin air at high altitudes, which is essential for people to breathe safely. If a window fails during flight, the sudden pressure difference between inside and outside the cabin creates powerful forces that pull strongly towards the opening.
A Ryanair aircraft flying from Greece to Germany experienced a window failure mid-flight at 15,000 feet. The shattered window at seat 11F nearly ejected passenger Ljubisa Karović, a 61-year-old Serbian businessman, from the aircraft as it travelled at over 600km/h. His wife and fellow passengers held him in place whilst another passenger blocked the window with luggage to prevent his full ejection.
What makes this incident exceptional is that surviving a partial ejection from an aircraft at altitude is extraordinarily rare in aviation history. Karović sustained burns, bruising and other injuries from the incident, and investigators continue to determine what caused the window to fail.
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