Head And Shoulders Outside: Man Nearly Sucked Out Of Flight As Window Detaches

A man was nearly sucked out of a Ryanair flight from Greece to Germany after a window "detached" mid-air. Other passengers managed to pull him back inside as he had not taken off his seat belt, according to witnesses and officials on Friday.

The passenger was a tourist from Serbia who was travelling from Thessaloniki in Greece to Memmingen in Germany. He was hospitalised with friction burns.

Passengers said they had woken up to a sound like that of a tyre bursting and screams, after which the victim was found with their head and shoulders outside the window.

Ryanair FR1879 out of Thessaloniki to Germany today. Boeing 737-8AS takes off, something from the engine breaks loose and smashes a window mid-climb. Boom.. cabin decompresses, masks drop, and a 61-year-old Serbian guy next to it gets partially sucked toward the hole! His wife… pic.twitter.com/XIAWMd8pJf

— Fahad Naim (@Fahadnaimb) July 10, 2026

"Most of us had fallen asleep, we had closed our eyes. There was a noise, like a tyre bursting," a fellow passenger told Radio Thessaloniki.

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

"The masks dropped, and there was a strong smell. The head and shoulders of one passenger were outside the window. Fortunately, he hadn't taken off his seat belt."

Other passengers near the man helped to pull him in, she said.

According to Greek media, the window had broken because of a piece of debris that had detached from one of the plane's engines.

The incident occurred right over North Macedonia. 

Ryanair, in a statement, 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."

A replacement aircraft was made available to transport the remaining passengers to Memmingen, the Irish carrier said.

(Video credit: Greek news outlet Rthess.gr)