ATHENS, July 14: The wife of a passenger seriously injured in a dramatic incident aboard a Ryanair flight from Greece to Germany has described, for the first time, how her husband was sucked head-first out of the aircraft after a window was torn away.
German Press Agency (dpa), in quoting Greek public broadcaster ERT, said the 61-year-old remains in hospital suffering from serious physical injuries and psychological trauma from Friday’s flight from Thessaloniki to the Bavarian town of Memmingen.
“My husband was sitting right by the window. Fortunately, he was buckled up — the seatbelt saved his life,” Serbian Svetlana Maximovic said in the interview that aired on Monday night.
She described how she and other passengers managed to pull him back inside.
According to his wife, he was sucked halfway out of the plane, suffering injuries to his neck and shoulder as well as friction burns. He is now wearing a neck brace and remains in shock, she said.
An aviation technical consultant hired by the family believes part of one of the aircraft’s engines broke off, striking and shattering the window.
The resulting rapid decompression created a powerful suction force that temporarily pulled the passenger’s upper body outside the aircraft, ERT reported.
Greece’s Air and Rail Accident Investigation Authority and the family’s expert are now examining the aircraft, the broadcaster said.
Aviation expert and pilot Grigoris Konstantelos earlier told ERT he suspected a similar sequence of events.
He said the passengers had been fortunate that the incident occurred shortly after take-off, as a greater pressure difference at cruising altitude could have caused a far more violent, potentially explosive decompression.
— BERNAMA-dpa