Passenger almost sucked out of window on Ryanair flight

Fellow passengers had to pull him back in

The incident is reported to have happened this morning at around 6:50am after engine debris supposedly shattered a cabin window leading to a man being "sucked out to his shoulders".

Ryanair flight FR1879 was operating from Thessaloniki in Greece and heading to Memmingen in Germany.

However, the flight was forced to return to the Greek city shortly after take off when passengers reported hearing a loud bang with plane windows being shattered.

This led to a man, who is believed to be Serbian, as per local reports, being partially sucked out the aircraft.

Local reports say that he was only saved by his wife who managed to grab his legs.

He has been hospitalised with friction burns but is otherwise in a good condition.

Videos from inside the aircraft have been circulating online.

One person told Greek outlet ERT that his head and shoulders were “sticking out of the broken window” while another told local media “his head was completely outside of the plane”.

One witness told Radio Thessaloniki: “A noise was heard as if a tire had burst.

“There was panic with screams and voices because we immediately lost altitude from the decompression.

“For a moment I thought someone had accidentally opened the emergency door.

“The flight attendants lost it. We all immediately put on our masks. It seemed like a very long time before we understood what was happening.”

Another passenger told the outlet: “They grabbed him and held him down, fortunately he hadn’t taken off his seatbelt.

“His head was completely outside the plane. The girls who were next to him were pulling him. Some doctors also went to help him.”

In a statement, Ryanair said the flight "returned to Thessaloniki shortly after takeoff when a passenger window detached during the flight."

"The aircraft landed normally and the passengers returned to the terminal," it added.

The Irish airline said a replacement aircraft was provided to transport the remaining passengers to Memmingen.