A passenger on a Ryanair flight was nearly pulled out of the aircraft mid-flight on Friday after a cabin window broke shortly after take-off from Thessaloniki, Greece's second-largest city, forcing the plane to make an emergency return to the airport. The 61-year-old Serbian national was dragged head-first through the window as far as his shoulders before fellow passengers managed to pull him back inside — his wife is reported to have held onto his legs for around five minutes during the ordeal. He was taken to hospital suffering from friction burns and shock, and remained conscious.

Passengers on board described hearing a loud bang and experiencing sudden, severe cabin decompression within minutes of take-off. Oxygen masks deployed from the ceiling, and the aircraft — tracked by flight data services descending abruptly by around 9,000 feet (2,700 metres) — turned back toward Thessaloniki. "For a moment I thought someone had accidentally opened the emergency door," one passenger, Christina, told Radio Thessaloniki. Another passenger, Sofia, said the decompression was so intense it felt impossible to breathe, and that the injured man lost consciousness several times, likely due to oxygen deprivation and shock. The plane had been bound for Memmingen, a city in southern Germany.

Ryanair confirmed the flight returned "shortly after take-off when a passenger window dislodged in flight," adding that the aircraft "landed normally" and that a replacement plane was arranged to carry passengers to Memmingen several hours later. The airline did not address passenger accounts suggesting that debris from one of the jet's engines struck and shattered the window, though Greek media and two airport authority sources cited by Reuters reported the same detail. The aircraft is believed to be an 18-year-old Boeing 737 NG operated by Malta Air, a Ryanair subsidiary. The US Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the plane was a Boeing 737 NG; Boeing did not comment. Notably, the same aircraft had been diverted back to Thessaloniki the previous evening on a flight to Sarajevo, though the reason for that earlier diversion remains unclear.

The incident draws immediate comparisons to a 2018 accident involving a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 NG in the United States, in which a fan blade broke apart, sending debris into a cabin window. A 43-year-old passenger was partially sucked out and died — the first fatal accident on a US passenger airline since 2009. That incident led regulators to require more frequent inspections of fan blades on 737 NG aircraft. Thessaloniki airport operator Fraport Greece said the incident is under investigation by the Hellenic Air and Rail Safety Investigation Authority, and that it is cooperating fully with relevant authorities.

Retired airline pilot Chris Brady stressed that the outcome could have been far worse, noting that the injured man had kept his seat belt fastened — a habit he urged all passengers to maintain throughout a flight, even when the seat belt sign is switched off. "It is good practice to leave your seat belts on," he said, citing both unexpected turbulence and rare but serious incidents like this one as reasons for the advice.