Passenger was injured after being partially sucked out of plane on takeoff from Greece

By COSTAS KANTOURIS

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A passenger on board a Ryanair flight from Greece to Germany was being treated in a hospital on Friday after reportedly being partially sucked out of a window that broke mid-flight.

A Greek hospital official said the 61-year-old passenger was treated for neck and shoulder injuries and friction burns. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly to the media.

Ryanair said the Friday morning flight from the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki to Memmingen near Munich “returned to Thessaloniki shortly after takeoff when a passenger window dislodged in-flight.”

The airline said in a statement the plane landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal, and one passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki. A replacement aircraft was later provided to fly the passengers to Germany.

Passengers told Greek media that they heard a loud bang nearly an hour into the early morning flight, oxygen masks dropped and the plane began to lose altitude.

One passenger, identified only as Christina, told Thessaloniki radio that passengers panicked and screamed and that one passenger was partially sucked out of the window.

“His whole head, neck, shoulders” were pulled out of the window, she said, adding that those seated near him pulled him back in.

“Most people had fallen asleep, we had closed our eyes. We heard a sound, I’d describe it like a tire bursting, … but very loud,” she said. “We knew straight away we lost pressure because we lost altitude. … Screams, shrieks, shouting.”