‘If we die, we die together’: wife of Ryanair passenger almost sucked through window speaks

The broken window of the Ryanair aircraft in a picture obtained from social media. The damage resulted from an engine failure. Photograph: Despoina Papapavlou/Reuters View image in fullscreen The broken window of the Ryanair aircraft in a picture obtained from social media. The damage resulted from an engine failure. Photograph: Despoina Papapavlou/Reuters ‘If we die, we die together’: wife of Ryanair passenger almost sucked through window speaks Svetlana Grković says she grabbed her husband’s legs while he was ‘outside up to his chest’ for two minutes Ryanair passenger almost sucked out of window during flight Ryanair has axed family seating policy – but kids’ fees add up A woman who saved her husband from being completely sucked out of a Ryanair plane mid-flight has said she thought as he held on to his legs: “If we die, we die together.” Ljubisa Karović was sucked out headfirst on the flight on Friday after an engine failure resulted in parts smashing the acrylic window. “Half of his body was sticking out of the plane,” his wife, Svetlana Grković, told Serbian outlet Nova. Ryanair passenger almost sucked out of shattered window during flight Read more “I immediately reacted and grabbed his legs,” she said, adding that he was “outside up to his chest” for two minutes. Grković said that with the help of two passengers she was able to pull her husband, who lost consciousness three times, back inside the aircraft. She said that many people fled their seats to other parts of the plane for safety as the cabin decompressed. The couple were on the flight, operated by the Ryanair subsidiary Malta Air, from Thessaloniki in Greece to Memmingen in Germany, for about 10 minutes when according to tracking data it suddenly dropped 9,000ft (2,700m). Ryanair has axed its family seating policy – but kids’ fees still add up Read more Passengers have told local media that Karović had kept his seatbelt on and helped those on board keep hold of him while his upper torso was in the plane’s slipstream outside. The 61-year-old is still in hospital in Greece and remains “seriously injured and in shock”, Grković said. “It’s important to me that he’s alive,” she said. “His hand is particularly badly injured, and he’s got burns. He’s not able to communicate, he doesn’t remember the whole event.” “Some people came to my aid, I remember one man and one woman,” she added. “That man helped me a lot, Ljubisa and me. I think he was Albanian, thank you very much. I didn’t remember his name, I don’t even know if he told me. I would like to meet him, to thank him personally again.” View image in fullscreen The interior of the Ryanair aircraft, in another picture obtained from social media. Oxygen masks dropped after the cabin became depressurised. Photograph: Despoina Papapavlou/Reuters Images and videos show that the shattered window caused oxygen masks to drop from the ceiling as the cabin became depressurised. skip past newsletter promotion after newsletter promotion One passen