'If we die, we die together': Wife who held on to her husband's legs after he was sucked out of Ryan

[240B]

'If we die, we die together': Wife who held on to her husband's legs after he was sucked out of Ryanair jet window at 20,000ft describes battle to save him

Daily Mail
By SAM LAWLEY
13 July 2026

A wife who held on to her husband's legs as he was being sucked out of a Ryanair jet window at 20,000ft has described her battle to save him.

Ljubiša Karović, from Serbia, was left hanging outside the aircraft while his desperate wife, Svetlana Grković, clung to his feet after part of the engine broke away during the flight and smashed through the window on Friday.

The Boeing 737-800 flight FR1879 – travelling from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany – was forced to turn back and make an emergency landing at its departure airport following the dramatic incident.

Passengers said they heard a deafening bang moments after takeoff, which turned out to be the jet's window shattering.

Moments later, Mr Karović – seated next to the window – was sucked through the opening, placing him within inches of death.

But his wife held him by his legs for about five minutes, after which fellow passengers were able to pull him back into the cabin as oxygen masks dropped down.

Now Ms Grković has described the ordeal in the air, which took place as she and her husband were heading back from a summer holiday in Greece.

She told Nova: 'It was as if a part of the engine broke off and hit the window next to which my husband Ljubiša was sitting.

(more)
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15974449/Wife-legs-sucked-Ryanair-jet-window.html

[mountaineer]

Reminds me of this 2018 incident, except that the passenger who was sucked out through the window did not survive:

What Happened On That Southwest Flight
April 19, 2018  7:13 AM ET
Heard on Morning Edition
By David Schaper NPR

A catastrophic failure on a Southwest Airlines flight killed one passenger and injured several others this week. It's prompted airlines around the world to inspect certain kinds of airplane engines.

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

All right. The Federal Aviation Administration says it will soon require new inspections of fan blades in jet engines like the one that exploded on a Southwest Airlines plane this week. Shrapnel from that explosion blew out a window and pierced the plane's fuselage, killing one passenger and injuring seven others. National Transportation Safety Board investigators say the blade that broke showed signs of fatigue, but that it's too soon to say if there's a broader problem with this type of jet engine. Here's more from NPR's David Schaper.

DAVID SCHAPER, BYLINE: Southwest Airlines flight number 1380 started like most others, taking off smoothly from New York's LaGuardia Airport as it headed to Dallas Tuesday. But about 20 minutes in, as the aircraft soared more than 32,000 feet above eastern Pennsylvania...

MARTY MARTINEZ: All of a sudden, we hear this loud explosion. And like, within a span of five seconds, all of the oxygen masks deployed.

SCHAPER: Passenger Marty Martinez (ph) explaining the frightening flight on CNN.

MARTINEZ: Just a few seconds later, another explosion happened and it was a window that just completely exploded.

SCHAPER: The cabin lost pressure, and a woman was nearly sucked out of the window. Passengers pulled her back in, and a retired nurse on the flight performed CPR. With one of the Boeing 737's two engines blown out, the plane rolled 41 degrees to its side before the pilots could correct it, and the plane quickly started to descend. ...

Same thing happened on the SW flight. Fellow passengers pulled her in and administered CPR, but couldn't revive her.

... Moments later, Mr Karović – seated next to the window – was sucked through the opening, placing him within inches of death.

But his wife held him by his legs for about five minutes, after which fellow passengers were able to pull him back into the cabin as oxygen masks dropped down.  ...

[Polly Ticks]

I'm going to tell my husband that I have to sit in the window seat, because my upper body strength probably isn't going to be enough to keep him from being sucked out of the window. I'd have to rely on adrenaline and Jesus, for sure.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Was he buckled in? I fail to see how it would happen if he was buckled in.

[Free Vulcan]

That's a real one right there.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Svetlana.

[Sighlass]

Yeah, he is never gonna live that one down...

[Timber Rattler]

Also British Airways Flight 5390 in June 1990, when Captain Tim Lancaster got sucked out his windshield when it failed...and survived!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOq8ecb9R_Q