Wife Reveals How She Saved Husband After He Was Nearly Sucked Out of Ryanair Plane Window

A routine Ryanair flight to Greece turned into a nightmare when a passenger was nearly sucked out of a plane window after it unexpectedly broke open mid-flight. Now, the passenger’s wife is revealing the split-second actions she took that she believes saved his life.

Serbian tourist Ljubiša Karović, 61, was pulled toward the window after it shattered just 30 minutes after taking off from Thessaloniki, Greece, on Friday, July 10.

The man’s head was trapped outside the smashed window when, according to the Daily Mail, his wife leapt into action, holding him down by his legs for about five minutes to prevent him from being fully ejected from the aircraft.

Speaking to Serbian outlet Nova, after the incident, Svetlana Grković said she only had one thought in that moment: “If we die, we die together.”

“The pressure pulled Ljubiša; luckily, he was strapped in, but half of his body was sticking out of the plane,” Grković recalled of the aircraft, which had reached a cruising altitude of 20,000 feet when Karović was nearly thrown out the window.

As for what truly saved her husband, Grković told Nova it was a combination of her quick thinking and the help of a fellow passenger, who stepped in to hold Ljubiša down.

“I reacted immediately and grabbed his legs… It was horrible,” she continued, adding that her husband “lost consciousness several times” as the cabin’s pressure dropped.

Grković said she and the passenger held Karović’s legs together as the plane made its way back to Thessaloniki.

The Boeing 737-800 flight, bound for Memmingen, Germany, had to turn back and land at its departure airport following the incident, with initial reports from CNN Greece and other local outlets indicating that debris from the engine may have struck the cabin window, causing it to break.

Karović, who sells and rents apartments in Greece, was hospitalized after the incident, suffering friction burns.

“His hand is particularly badly injured, and he’s got burns,” Grković told the outlet, adding that her husband was “seriously injured and in shock.”

Grković also said that Karović is not able to communicate and is having trouble remembering the terrifying event.

Still, despite what was undoubtedly a traumatic moment for them both, Grković said, “It’s important to me that he’s alive.”

Social media footage circulating after the incident showed the broken window, as well as oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling of the plane.

In a statement issued after the incident, per BBC, the Irish budget airline offered little explanation, however, for what caused the window to break, which remains under investigation.

“A Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen on Friday morning (10 July) returned to Thessaloniki shortly after take-off when a passenger window dislodged in-flight. The aircraft landed normally, and passengers returned to the terminal,” Ryanair’s statement reads. “One passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki. In order to minimize any delay, a replacement aircraft was arranged to bring passengers to Memmingen, which departed Thessaloniki at 9:53 local this morning.”

The same plane was forced to divert back to Thessaloniki on a flight to Sarajevo on Thursday evening, also shortly after takeoff, according to multiple reports, although it is unclear why.