Wife hangs on to man’s legs after he gets sucked out of ‘detached’ Ryanair window

'The head and shoulders of one passenger were outside the window. Fortunately, he hadn’t taken off his seatbelt'

Published Jul 10, 2026  •  Last updated 24 minutes ago  •  2 minute read

This photograph shows an aircraft of low-cost Irish airline Ryanair after landing at the Thessaloniki airport "Makedonia", in Thessaloniki on May 7, 2026. Photo by Sakis Mitrolidis/AFP /Getty Images

A man was nearly sucked out of a Ryanair plane after a window “detached” while in the air en route to Germany.

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The shocking incident, which took place Friday over North Macedonia, prompted his wife to grab hold of his legs while other passengers helped pull him back inside the plane, witnesses and officials said.

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Ryanair Flight FR1879, a Boeing 737-8AS, returned safely to Greece after part of a damaged engine reportedly detached and struck a cabin window.

The Serbian man, 61, was hospitalized with friction burns but was in good condition otherwise, authorities said.

What passengers said happened

“Most of us had fallen asleep, we had closed our eyes. There was a noise, like a tire bursting,” a fellow passenger recounted to Radio Thessaloniki.

“We immediately realized there had been a decompression,” the woman said. “There were screams … for a moment I thought someone had accidentally opened the emergency door.”

She detailed how oxygen masks dropped and recalled “a strong smell.”

The aftermath from the Ryanair flight. (X) X

That’s when she saw the man in serious trouble.

“The head and shoulders of one passenger were outside the window. Fortunately, he hadn’t taken off his seatbelt,” she said.

The man’s wife held him by his legs for about five minutes, according to local media, while other passengers eventually were able to pull him back into the cabin.

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What the airline said of the scare

A spokesperson for the airline confirmed the incident.

“A Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen on Friday morning returned to Thessaloniki shortly after take-off when a passenger window dislodged inflight,” the statement read.

“The aircraft landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal. One passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki.”

A replacement aircraft was made available to take the remaining passengers to Memmingen, the Irish carrier added.

The man, whose neck was injured by the impact, also sustained abrasions and burns, according to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.

Meanwhile, a pregnant woman on the flight was taken to hospital, local media reported. She has since been released.

— With files from AFP

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