SerpApi.Org
A Ryanair passenger who was nearly sucked out of a plane after a window suddenly shattered on July 10 has spoken out about the terrifying ordeal, revealing he has been left "haunted" by the experience.
Ljubisa Karovi, 61, from Serbia, had been asleep aboard flight FR1879 traveling from Greece to Germany when the incident occurred. A damaged engine reportedly struck the window, causing it to break apart.
Speaking to German newspaper Bild, he said: "As soon as I close my eyes, images appear of the nightmare I experienced. Those few minutes, it is simply a nightmare, which I cannot explain with words.
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"I am not even contemplating getting on another flight. Every time I hear an airplane, I get stress and a fever. I am not well at all when I hear an airplane," Karovi said.
Seated in row 11F, Karovi described a deafening noise "like a bomb," before the window beside him gave way. As objects were hurled through the air and out of the aircraft, fellow passengers desperately fought to keep him inside, with his wife Svetlana clinging to his legs as he hung 20,000 ft above the ground.
"I was conscious and cannot remember the rest. I had blood all over me, blood was dripping from my face and my hands," he recalled. Karovi suffered temporary paralysis and now wears a neck brace, while burns cover his back and right arm, according to The Sun.
He describes being deeply traumatized by the incident and his injuries. "Now everything is bothering me. Mentally, I have hit rock bottom. It has an effect on both my work and family. It is a complete upheaval in my life. I have no concentration. My attention can't be focused on anything. That means I'm simply not functioning properly," Karovi said.
He was partially pulled through the window before fellow passengers dragged him back inside. Ljubisa reportedly lost consciousness two or three times throughout the terrifying ordeal, his lawyer confirmed.
Speaking previously to journalists at a villa near the Greek coastal city of Thessaloniki, he stated: "I am lucky. I don't remember much and my head and neck still hurt but I am still alive.
"It could have been the seatbelt, the fact that I was still strapped in. But maybe it is fate. I believe in God and I thank him every day," he said.
Ryanair praised its cabin crew for doing a "phenomenal job" throughout the incident. CEO Michael O'Leary explained that preliminary findings from the investigation into the July 10 incident between Greece and Germany indicate "it looks like a foreign object damage to the engine on takeoff at Thessaloniki but ... we can't say that definitively".
He emphasized that the engine on the 18-year-old Boeing 737 aircraft had undergone complete servicing and overhaul within the previous two years. The plane was operated by Malta Air, a Ryanair subsidiary.
