Passenger partly sucked out of window soon after takeoff from Greece but others pull him back in

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A man was partially sucked out of an airplane window shortly after takeoff Friday on a Ryanair flight from Greece to Germany, but nearby passengers pulled him back inside.

A Greek hospital official said the 61-year-old passenger was treated for neck and shoulder injuries and friction burns. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly to the media.

The morning flight from the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki to Memmingen near Munich was operated by Ryanair subsidiary Malta Air. Ryanair said the flight “returned to Thessaloniki shortly after takeoff when a passenger window dislodged in-flight.”

The airline said in a statement the plane landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal, and one passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki. A replacement aircraft was later provided to fly the passengers to Germany.

Passengers told Greek media that they heard a loud bang, oxygen masks dropped and the plane began to lose altitude.

One passenger, identified only as Christina, told Thessaloniki radio that passengers panicked and screamed and that one passenger was partially sucked out of the window.

“His whole head, neck, shoulders” were pulled out of the window, she said, adding that those seated near him pulled him back in.

“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,” she said. “We knew straight away we lost pressure because we lost altitude. … Screams, shrieks, shouting.”

The aircraft was a Boeing 737-800, which can seat up to 189 passengers. The narrow-body plane was delivered new to Ryanair in 2008, according to flight-tracking site Flightradar24.

About six minutes after departure, flight records show, the aircraft climbed past 15,000 feet (4,570 meters), then immediately descended to about 6,000 feet (1,830 meters) “to burn fuel for 30 minutes” before returning to Thessaloniki about an hour after takeoff, Flightradar24 said.

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Associated Press writer Rio Yamat contributed to this report from Las Vegas.