Passengers on a flight that took off from Thessaloniki this morning bound for Munich, Germany, experienced a real in-flight thriller. A deafening noise, a broken window thousands of feet above the ground, and a 61-year-old Serbian man who was “sucked out” by the air as the aircraft’s cabin depressurized, and his wife pulling him to keep him in his seat.

All of this, according to reports, was triggered by a master failure in the engine of the aircraft operating the flight on the morning of Friday, July 10. Essentially, the failure caused some parts to break off, which resulted in the aircraft’s window shattering.

The pilot reportedly noticed the problem immediately and ordered a return to “Macedonia” Airport, from where the aircraft had taken off a short time earlier. During the incident, standard procedures were fully followed, with the plane landing and taxing to a designated parking area at the airport without incident.

READ ALSO: Terror in the Air: Window Shattered on Flight from Thessaloniki, Oxygen Masks Dropped

Subsequently, a new aircraft (rescue flight) picked up the passengers from the flight to Munich, and they continued their journey. As a result of the incident, four passengers were taken to the hospital; three were admitted as a precaution and have since been discharged, while one remains hospitalized with minor injuries.

His head was sticking out of the aircraft

The passenger was a 61-year-old Serbian man who was sitting next to the window that broke. Due to the decompression, the passenger was sucked out, but was saved at the last moment thanks to the help of his wife, who was sitting next to him.

The president of POEDIN, Michalis Giannakos, commented on the incident involving the injury of the 61-year-old passenger on a flight from “Macedonia” Airport in a post. As he explained, the man’s body was thrown into the air and was held back by his wife, while he himself suffered burns from friction. It is also noted—as is to be expected—that the 61-year-old Serbian man was in shock.

Specifically, in his post, Michalis Giannakos describes: “A near-tragedy on a flight. A window shattered, and a passenger’s body was thrown into the air. His wife held him back, and he was transported to AHEPA Hospital.

A 61-year-old Serbian man is currently at AHEPA Hospital with friction burns he sustained on a flight to Munich. The airplane window shattered, his body was thrown out into the air, and his wife held onto his legs for five minutes to keep him from being swept away. With the help of many passengers, they managed to pull him back into the cabin. The plane landed in Thessaloniki—likely an emergency landing—and the injured passenger was transported to AHEPA Hospital. He is in shock, conscious, and has friction burns. “Examinations are currently underway.”

Eyewitness account from inside the plane: “Panic broke out”

A woman who was on the harrowing flight from Thessaloniki’s “Macedonia” Airport to Munich, Germany, spoke to Radio Thessaloniki 94.5.

As she described it: “There was a noise like a tire bursting. Panic broke out with screams, shrieks, and shouting because we immediately lost altitude due to decompression. For a moment, I thought someone had accidentally opened the emergency door. The flight attendants were at a loss. We all put on our oxygen masks immediately. It seemed like an eternity to us, and we didn’t understand what was happening.”

Regarding the 61-year-old Serbian man, she said: “They grabbed him and held him back; fortunately, he hadn’t unbuckled his seatbelt. His head was completely outside the plane. The girls sitting next to him were pulling him back in. Some doctors also came to help him.”

Source: Proto Thema