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Debris from a broken engine fan smashed a window on a Ryanair plane shortly after it took off from Greece last month, according to a preliminary report into the incident, which saw a passenger partially sucked out of the opening.
The flight had been on its way from Thessaloniki to Memmingen, Germany when the aircraft “experienced a No. 2 (right) engine fan-blade-out (FBO) failure during climb out,” the report from the US’s National Transportation Safety Board said.
“Engine fragments breached the fuselage and the cabin depressurized,” it continued. “The crew elected to return to SKG where they made an uneventful landing.”
Two pilots, four flight attendants, and 149 passengers were on board the aircraft when the incident occurred. The NTSB said one passenger sustained serious injuries.
In a statement at the time, Ryanair said the flight returned to Thessaloniki when a “passenger window dislodged inflight.”
The airline said the aircraft “landed normally” and that passengers made their way to the terminal before a replacement service was organised.
Serbian national Ljubisa Karović was nearly sucked head-first through the broken window but was saved as other passengers held onto him.
Speaking to Serbian outlet Nova at the time, his wife, Svetlana Grković, said: “The pressure pulled Ljubiša out; luckily he was strapped in, but half his body was sticking out of the plane.”
“I reacted immediately and grabbed his legs. I thought, ‘If we’re going to die, we’re going to die together’. It was awful,” she added.
According to the NTSB, it was delegated the investigation “in full” by Greek authorities the week after the incident.
The investigation has so far determined that the fan blades had undergone ultrasonic inspections as recently as May, “with no findings.”
It also found that flight crews had reported four suspected bird strikes to the same engine in the 12 months leading up to the Thessaloniki incident.
While no damage was recorded in subsequent maintenance checks, it noted that “bird remains were reportedly found in two of the cases.”
The investigation remains ongoing.