A woman who saved her husband from being ejected from a Ryanair flight after a cabin window shattered describes a harrowing ordeal. Svetlana Grković was traveling from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany, with her husband, 61-year-old Ljubisa Karović, when an apparent engine failure caused debris to breach the cabin.
Grković recalled holding onto her husband for two minutes as he hung partially outside the aircraft. She described the chilling decision to keep her grip, telling herself that if they were to die, they would face it together. Two other passengers assisted her in pulling Karović back into the cabin after he lost consciousness multiple times. The flight, operated by Malta Air, performed an emergency descent of 9,000 feet shortly after the window was dislodged.
Karović remains hospitalized, suffering from severe injuries, burns to his hands, and significant shock. While Ryanair characterized the event as a window dislodgment and reported a normal landing, passengers noted extreme decompression, respiratory distress, and chaotic scenes of bleeding and panic.
International authorities, including the Hellenic Air and Rail Safety Investigation Authority, the FAA, and EASA, are collaborating to determine the cause of the failure. The investigation is ongoing as officials examine the 18-year-old Boeing 737-800 aircraft involved in the incident.
