Businessman partially sucked from plane after window shatters mid-flight

Ljubiša Karović, a Serbian businessman, described the harrowing moments of a Ryanair flight on July 10 that turned into a fight for his life. A window shattered near his seat, and the sudden decompression partially sucked him out of the cabin.

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What I remember is the explosion.

"What I remember is the explosion," Karović told The Guardian, recalling the loud noise that woke him from sleep in seat 11F. He described the sound as "the noise before the chaos." The 61-year-old, who owns an aluminum factory in Serbia, called his survival a miracle, attributing it to his seatbelt and perhaps fate. "I am happy. I don't remember much and my head and neck still hurt, but I am still alive," he said. "It was the seatbelt, the fact that I was still buckled. But maybe it's fate. I believe in God and I thank him every day."

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It is the noise before the chaos, the noise that is always there when I close my eyes to sleep.

His Greek lawyer, Vasilis Tsiaras, called Karović's survival extraordinary. "Ljubiša was plunging between life and death. When the cabin lost pressure, he was thrown out of the window from the chest up and immediately lost consciousness. At 15,000 feet, his head and right arm were outside the plane, which was moving at more than 600 kilometers per hour. Imagine that! He looked death in the eye and came back," Tsiaras stated.

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I am happy. I don't remember much and still my head and neck hurt, but I am still alive. It was the seatbelt, the fact that I was still buckled. But maybe it's fate. I believe in God and I thank him every day.

Karović's wife, Svetlana, and other passengers also recalled the chaos. Oxygen masks deployed, and objects flew through the air. Svetlana Karović stated that fellow passengers, not the crew, were the primary rescuers. "A passenger, I think he was Albanian, was incredible. He did everything he could to get him back inside, and then tried to block the window, first with a bag, which was immediately sucked out, and then with a suitcase, which finally worked. We are forever grateful to him," she said. Ryanair denied claims that the crew did not help, stating that after the loss of pressure and emergency descent, all passengers and crew followed safety rules. The airline said that once at a safe altitude, staff attended to Karović, moved him to his wife, and ensured medical assistance upon landing in Thessaloniki.

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Ljubiša was plunging between life and death. When the cabin lost pressure, he was thrown out of the window from the chest up and immediately lost consciousness. At 15,000 feet, his head and right arm were outside the plane, which was moving at more than 600 kilometers per hour. Imagine that! He looked death in the eye and came back.