An engine fan blade broke off on a Ryanair flight and sent parts flying that shattered a plane window shortly after takeoff in Greece last month, which caused a man’s head to be sucked into the hole in the fuselage before his fellow passengers pulled him to safety, U.S. investigators said Thursday.The engine parts damaged the plane’s fuselage in several other places, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its report.The NTSB said it found bird remains inside the engine, suggesting the plane may have struck birds as it took off.The terrifying incident happened shortly after the Ryanair plane took off from the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki on July 10. Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling after the window broke and the cabin lost pressure. The 61-year-old man who was nearly sucked out of the plane suffered neck and shoulder injuries and friction burns before his fellow passenger pulled him back inside the Boeing 737-800.
Passengers told Greek media that they heard a loud bang, oxygen masks dropped and the plane began to lose altitude. Panic spread through the aircraft and some passengers screamed after the man was partially sucked out of the missing window. “Most people had fallen asleep, we had closed our eyes. We heard a sound, I’d describe it like a tire bursting … but very loud,” a passenger identified only as Christina told Radio Thessaloniki. “We knew straight away we lost pressure because we lost altitude.”
