Ryanair Plane Window Shatters Mid-Flight After Engine Part Detaches, Passenger Nearly Sucked Out

Two days after a dramatic incident on a Ryanair flight from Greece to Germany, new details have emerged about the event in which a passenger was partially sucked out of a shattered window. According to two sources speaking to Reuters, a part of the plane's engine detached and struck the window, though this has not been officially confirmed. The incident occurred shortly after takeoff from Thessaloniki on Friday, at about 20,000 feet altitude, when a loud explosion was heard, a window broke, cabin pressure dropped, and oxygen masks deployed. The passenger seated by the window was pulled out up to his shoulders but was held and pulled back inside by his wife and other passengers. Witnesses described the passenger bleeding from the head and fainting multiple times.

Video footage circulating on social media appears to show an uncontained engine failure, where internal engine parts break through the engine casing and send debris flying. The Boeing 737 NG aircraft had also turned back to Thessaloniki the previous day after departing for Sarajevo, though the reasons for that return and any connection to Friday’s event remain unclear. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Boeing have joined the investigation, which is being led by North Macedonia, where the incident occurred in its airspace. The Serbian consulate in Greece confirmed the passenger is a Serbian citizen hospitalized in Thessaloniki’s AHEPA University Hospital in stable condition with neck injuries, abrasions, and burns.

After safely landing in Thessaloniki, passengers were returned to the terminal and later flown to Germany on a replacement aircraft. Reuters recalled a similar 2018 incident involving a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 NG, where an engine blade detached, broke a window, and caused a passenger fatality. Following that, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) required Boeing to redesign the engine casing, with the FAA mandating completion of these changes by July 2028.