Passengers on a Ryanair Boeing 737 faced a frightening midair emergency when a window dislodged, and a passenger was partially sucked out of the plane.
The incident happened shortly after taking off from Greece on Friday when the window dislodged at about 13,000 feet, about 10 minutes into the flight.
Video from the flight shows oxygen masks dropping as the aircraft experienced decompression.
“Witnesses told local media the man, said to be a Serbian citizen in his 60s, was left hanging head first out of the window as far as his shoulders for several minutes, before other passengers on the flight managed to pull him back inside,” the BBC reported.
ABC reported that other passengers had to hold someone’s feet to keep him from getting sucked out of the broken window.
The pilot descended to 6,000 feet until the jet could land.
Ryanair confirmed one person, a Serbian citizen, needed medical care after the jet landed safely.
The airline released a statement about the incident.
A Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen on Friday morning (10 July) returned to Thessaloniki shortly after take-off when a passenger window dislodged inflight. The aircraft landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal. One passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki. In order to minimise any delay, a replacement aircraft was arranged to bring passengers to Memmingen which departed Thessaloniki at 9:53 local this morning.
The Boeing 737 is built in Renton.
“We are aware of the incident involving flight FR1879 and are in contact with Ryanair,” Boeing said in a statement.