Inside Ryanair flight from hell as passenger’s head is sucked out of window, O2 masks descend & pilot shouts ‘emergency’

GASPING for air at 20,000ft, terrified Ryanair passengers were left holding on to their loved ones as the pilot repeatedly yelled down the speaker “emergency”. People were scrambling to put on their oxygen masks as they looked around the chaotic cabin to see a passenger’s head being sucked out of the window – sparking 20 minutes of chaos. A frantic dash saw fellow passengers grab hold of the man’s legs to yank him back inside as the altitude onboard dangerously dropped, witnesses said. Flight FR1879 was en route to Memmingen, Germany, after departing from Makedonia airport in Thessaloniki, Greece, this morning at 5:55am. The plane reached 20,000ft before a deafening bang erupted, shocking those on board. A glass window was smashed by pieces of the plane’s broken engine as the gaping hole caused a rapid surge of air to enter the cabin and pull a 61-year-old Serbian man halfway out of the aircraft. Describing the horrors, a disturbed passenger told Radio Thessaloniki: “A noise was heard as if a tire had burst. “There was panic with screams and voices because we immediately lost altitude from the decompression. “For a moment I thought someone had accidentally opened the emergency door.” Those onboard quickly realised what had happened as they saw the man “sucked up to his shoulders” outside of the plane. His wife desperately held on to his lower half to stop his horrifying demise until heroic bystanders came to help. Dramatic footage went on to show dozens of oxygen masks dropping down over the seats of the packed Boeing 737-800 as passengers raced to put them on. “The flight attendants lost it. We all immediately put on our masks. It seemed like a very long time before we understood what was happening,” the shocked flyer added. After an agonising five minutes, the man was eventually dragged to safety back inside the aircraft with serious burns to his upper body from the friction. President of Greek healthcare union POEDIN, Michalis Giannakos, said about the man’s injuries: “He is in shock, conscious, and has friction burns. Tests are now being conducted.” Christina, who was on board, said there was a “strong smell” of what was believed to be burning coming from the window. Another passenger said: “They grabbed him and held him down, fortunately he hadn’t taken off his seatbelt. “His head was completely outside the plane. The girls who were next to him were pulling him. Some doctors also went to help him.” A dramatic emergency landing procedure was immediately ordered over North Macedonia as the pilot reportedly started yelling “emergency” down the speakers. The Ryanair plane landed back in Thessaloniki one hour and 14 minutes after takeoff, according to officially available flight data. One woman told Bild she “hugged her mother and we cried” after landing. She added: “We were a little dizzy, but thankfully we were otherwise unharmed.” The Serbian and three other passengers who had been injured in the chaos were immediately taken to hospital. The pilot was seen crying on the tarmac as he was assisted by airport staff, witnesses said. Ryanair told The Sun the flight had to be aborted after “a passenger window dislodged inflight”. A later inspection of the plane found the near-death ordeal likely unfolded due to a failure in the plane’s engine. Several other windows on the plane were also cracked open, believed to be as a result of the ripped off motor, according to local media. A replacement flight was put on for the passengers again from Greece which set off at 9:53am local time this morning. The aircraft – believed to have been an 18-year-old-plane – was operated by Ryanair’s subsidiary Malta Air. Back in 2018, a passenger died when debris from a damaged engine caused a window to break on a Southwest Airlines flight in the US. Mum-of-two Jennifer Riordan, 43, was partially sucked out at 32,000ft due to the sudden decompression before she was pulled back inside. Despite being rescued her death was confirmed as blunt trauma to the head, neck and torso. One of the 144 passengers onboard, Marty Martinez, said people were screaming as the woman’s body was dragged back into the plane. He said: “Passengers right next to her were holding on to [Riordan]. And, meanwhile, there was blood all over this man’s hands as he was tending to her.” New York flyer Amanda Bourman said everyone was bracing for impact when the plane prepared to land. She recalled: “I just remember holding my husband’s hand, and we just prayed and prayed and prayed. “And the thoughts that were going through my head, of course, were about my daughters, just wanting to see them again.”