RYANAIR PASSENGER NEARLY SUCKED FROM WINDOW AT 15,000FT

A Ryanair passenger was nearly pulled out of an aircraft window after the cabin lost pressure during flight FR1879 from Greece to Germany. Ljubisa Karović, an entrepreneur from Serbia, was asleep in seat 11F when the window shattered with what he described as an explosion. Other passengers held him in place whilst a suitcase was used to plug the gap, preventing him from being fully extracted from the aircraft.

Karović had his head and right arm outside the aircraft at 15,000 feet as it travelled at speeds exceeding 600 kilometres per hour, according to his lawyer Vasilis Tsiaras. He sustained burns and bruises on his right arm extending from his armpit to his chest, and fainted between two and three times during the incident. His lawyer characterised his survival as a miracle, stating that Karović "dipped in and out of death" when the cabin depressurised. The passenger was taken to hospital upon landing and was later treated in a villa near Thessaloniki, Greece.

Karović has described ongoing psychological effects from the incident, reporting that the memory of the sound haunts him when he attempts to sleep. He told The Guardian that he remains in pain, though he believes his survival was aided by remaining strapped in his seatbelt at the moment of decompression. The incident occurred whilst Karović was travelling to Germany to celebrate his brother's birthday.