The thunderous noise that erupted moments before chaos swept through a Ryanair cabin still haunts a passenger who was partially sucked through a broken window during the flight.
Ljubisa Karovic, 61, sustained neck and shoulder injuries when the window dislodged on the 10 July journey from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen near Munich, Germany.
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The Serbian businessman told The Guardian: “The explosion is what I remember. It’s the noise before the chaos, the noise that is always there when I close my eyes to sleep.”
Other passengers grabbed Mr Karovic and hauled him back inside the aircraft, though he recalls little of the terrifying struggle.
“It could have been the seatbelt, the fact that I was still strapped in. But maybe it is fate. I believe in God and I thank him every day.”
Now recovering at a rented villa near Thessaloniki, he must wear a neck brace for at least six weeks and has been warned that surgery may be necessary.
His wife, Svetlana, who had been sitting behind him, said the couple were “eternally grateful” to a fellow passenger, whom she believes is Albanian, for helping save her husband.
She told The Guardian: “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.”
In a statement issued at the time, Ryanair said the aircraft “returned to Thessaloniki shortly after takeoff when a passenger window dislodged in-flight”.
The airline said the plane landed normally and those on board went back to the terminal. One passenger asked for and received medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki.
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced on 16 July that it was assuming responsibility for the investigation into the flight.
Although the incident happened in Greek airspace, international aviation rules permit Greece’s Hellenic Air and Rail Safety Investigation Authority to transfer the inquiry to the NTSB.
