‘If we die, we die together’: Svetlana Grković holds on to husband’s legs after his body hurtles out of plane mid-air
Svetlana Grković was flying from Greece to Germany when a window shattered and a man sitting nearby was sucked out. Although he was wearing a seat belt, half of his body was outside the window. But Ljubisa Karovich’s wife grabbed him by the legs and said: “If we die, we will die together.” The incident occurred a few days ago on Ryanair flight FR1879, which was flying from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, near Munich, Germany, on Friday. It is operated by budget airline subsidiary Air Malta.The flight lasted more than an hour, reaching an altitude of 16,000 feet, before returning to Thessaloniki Airport.The husband stayed out for two minutes, chest deep.Gerkovich said she was able to pull her husband, who had lost consciousness three times, back into the plane with the help of two passengers. As the cabin depressurized, many people fled to other parts of the plane for safety, she said.Passengers told local media that Karovic had been wearing a seat belt and helped crew members catch him while his upper body was caught in the slipstream outside the plane.The shock of the incident was huge. The husband is receiving treatment in the hospital. “It means a lot to me that he’s alive,” the wife said. “His hands were extremely badly injured and burned. He couldn’t communicate; he didn’t remember the entire incident.”“Some people came to help me, I remember a man and a woman,” she added. “That man helped me, Ljubisa and I a lot. I think he is Albanian, thank you very much. I don’t remember his name, and I don’t even know if he told me. I want to meet him and thank him in person again. “A Ryanair spokesman said: “A Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen was returning to Thessaloniki shortly after takeoff on Friday morning when a passenger window fell off in flight. The aircraft landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal. A passenger requested medical assistance in Thessaloniki and received medical assistance on the ground. To minimize delays, we arranged for an alternative aircraft to fly the passenger to Memmingen.”“
