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The boss of Ryanair has said the airline will be “disputing” the claim that any part of a passenger’s body was sucked out of a window midflight.
Ljubisa Karovic, 61, suffered neck and shoulder injuries after the window broke during the flight from the Greek city of Thessaloniki to Memmingen near Munich, Germany, on July 10.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the US is investigating the incident during the flight.
On Thursday, Michael O’Leary said the passenger was “certainly sucked towards the window, but he didn’t get out the window”.
While speaking to reporters after the Ryanair annual general meeting in Dublin, he was asked if the passenger was partially out of the window, he said: “He wasn’t partially out the window.”
“No, no, no. Part of his face didn’t get out the window.
“We don’t think any part of his body got out the window, but he was certainly sucked in very dramatic circumstances towards the window.”
Ljubisa Karovic, 61, suffered neck and shoulder injuries (Facebook)
Mr O’Leary said he was “belted into the seat” and added: “We will be certainly at the end of the process disputing that he or any part of his anatomy will bend out the window.”
The airline chief acknowledged the man suffered injuries and added: “We’re not trying to downplay it.”
Mr O’Leary told reporters: “Look, that incident is being investigated by the NTSB, and we have to await the outcome of the NTSB report.”
Asked if Ryanair had done any checks or fixes as a result of the incident, he said: “There’s nothing we can do at the moment.
“We are a participant in the investigation with Boeing, with the NTSB, with GE on the engine side.
“Most of the focus is what happened to the engine.
“Why was it not self-contained within the cowl of the engine?”
Michael O’Leary spoke to reporters after the Ryanair annual general meeting in Dublin on Thursday (PA)
Mr O’Leary said they were in touch with the passenger’s lawyer and acknowledged he was entitled to “some compensation” but said he did not believe there was any basis for “any class action” or a payout of “millions and millions”.
Mr Karovic, a Serbian businessman, previously told The Guardian he was “still strapped in” with his seatbelt.
Svetlana, Mr Karovic’s wife, told the newspaper they were “eternally grateful” to one passenger who she believes is Albanian for his part in the rescue.
She said: “He did all he could to bring him in and then tried to block the window, first with a bag that was immediately sucked out and then with a suitcase, which worked.”