‘If we die, we die together’ – wife recalls clinging onto husband as he was sucked out of Ryanair window

She had to grab him by his feet

Last week, it was reported that a man was almost sucked out of a window on a Ryanair flight, needing others to hold him in.

The incident is reported to have happened on Friday at around 6:50am after engine debris supposedly shattered a cabin window leading to a man being "sucked out to his shoulders".

Ryanair flight FR1879 was operating from Thessaloniki in Greece and heading to Memmingen in Germany.

However, the flight was forced to return to the Greek city shortly after take off when passengers reported hearing a loud bang with plane windows being shattered.

This led to a man, Ljubiša Karović being partially sucked out the plane up to his shoulders and needing his wife Svetlana Grković, to cling onto his legs to save him.

Ljubiša Karović (left) and Svetlana Grković (right) Credit: Facebook

Now, Svetlana has given her testimony of the incredible incident, saying she held on to her husband for around five minutes.

She told Serbian outlet Nova: “It was as if a part of the engine broke off and hit the window where my husband Ljubiša was sitting.

“As the window broke, decompression occurred in the cabin. The pressure pulled Ljubisa, luckily he was strapped in, but half of his body was sticking out of the plane.

“I reacted immediately and grabbed his legs. I thought: ‘If we die, we die together.’ It was horrible.”

Svetlana also praised the heroic intervention of a man and woman who helped hold on to her husband.

She said: “That man helped me a lot, Ljubiša and I. I would like to meet him, to thank him personally again.”

Ljubiša was rushed to hospital where he is recovering from his injuries and from shock.

Svetlana said: “It’s important to me that he’s alive. He’s seriously injured and in shock. His hand is particularly badly injured, and he’s got burns. He’s not able to communicate, he doesn’t remember the whole event.”

One witness told the outlet: “Luckily, he didn’t unbuckle his seatbelt. His wife Svetlana Grković held his legs for five full minutes, until the other passengers ran to help and managed to pull him back into the cabin.”

Meanwhile, one passenger, 37-year-old Sabrina, told German outlet Bild: “I thought, that’s it.

“The man was pulled out of the plane by his head, and people ran over to help him.”

Sabrina was sat four rows behind the window where the accident occurred.

“It was a shock for everyone – the man had a head wound and also lost consciousness”, Sabrina added.

Videos from inside the aircraft have been circulating online.

One person told Greek outlet ERT that his head and shoulders were “sticking out of the broken window” while another told local media “his head was completely outside of the plane”.

One witness 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.

“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.”

Another passenger told the outlet: “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.”

In a statement, Ryanair said the flight "returned to Thessaloniki shortly after takeoff when a passenger window detached during the flight."

"The aircraft landed normally and the passengers returned to the terminal," it added.

The Irish airline said a replacement aircraft was provided to transport the remaining passengers to Memmingen.