A frightening mid-air emergency unfolded Friday when a passenger was partially pulled through an airplane window shortly after a flight took off from the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, bound for Memmingen, Germany — near Munich.
The flight was operated by Malta Air, a subsidiary of Ryanair. According to the airline, the plane turned back to Thessaloniki “shortly after takeoff when a passenger window dislodged in-flight.” The aircraft landed without further incident, and passengers were brought back to the terminal.
A hospital official in Greece, speaking anonymously because they were not permitted to address the media, confirmed that the 61-year-old passenger involved was treated for neck and shoulder injuries as well as friction burns. One passenger sought and received medical attention on the ground before a replacement aircraft eventually carried the group on to Germany.
Witnesses described a terrifying sequence of events. A passenger identified only as Christina told a Thessaloniki radio station that a loud noise startled those on board, oxygen masks deployed, and the plane began losing altitude rapidly.
“His whole head, neck, shoulders” were pulled out through the window, Christina said, noting that other passengers seated nearby were able to drag him back inside the cabin.
She described the initial sound as something like a tire blowing out — only far louder. “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 recounted. “We knew straight away we lost pressure because we lost altitude. … Screams, shrieks, shouting.”
Flight data from tracking service Flightradar24 shows the aircraft — a Boeing 737-800 capable of carrying up to 189 passengers — climbed past 15,000 feet (about 4,570 meters) roughly six minutes after departure. It then dropped sharply to approximately 6,000 feet (around 1,830 meters), where it circled for about 30 minutes to burn off fuel before returning to Thessaloniki, landing approximately one hour after the original takeoff. The plane was delivered new to Ryanair back in 2008, according to Flightradar24.
