Ryanair boss says airline will dispute account of passenger who said they were partially sucked out of window – as it happened
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said that the airline will be “disputing” that any part of a passenger’s body was sucked out of a window midflight.
Ljubisa Karović , 61, suffered neck and shoulder injuries after the window broke during the flight from the Greek city of Thessaloniki to Memmingen near Munich, Germany, on 10 July.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the US is investigating the incident during the flight.
Speaking to reporters after the Ryanair annual general meeting in Dublin on Thursday, O’Leary said the passenger was “certainly sucked towards the window, but he didn’t get out the window”.
Asked if the passenger was partially out of the window, he said:
double quotation mark He wasn’t partially out the window.
No, no, no. Part of his face didn’t get out the window.
We don’t think any part of his body got out the window, but he was certainly sucked in very dramatic circumstances towards the window.
O’Leary said Karović was “belted into the seat” and added:
double quotation mark We will be certainly at the end of the process disputing that he or any part of his anatomy will bend out the window.
The airline chief acknowledged the man suffered injuries and added:
double quotation mark We’re not trying to downplay it. Look, that incident is being investigated by the NTSB, and we have to await the outcome of the NTSB report.
Asked if Ryanair had done any checks or fixes as a result of the incident, he said:
double quotation mark There’s nothing we can do at the moment. We are a participant in the investigation with Boeing, with the NTSB, with GE on the engine side.
Most of the focus is what happened to the engine. Why was it not self-contained within the cowl of the engine?
The Ryanair boss said the company was in touch with the passenger’s lawyer and acknowledged he was entitled to “some compensation” but said he did not believe there was any basis for “any class action” or a payout of “millions and millions”.
Karović , a Serbian businessman, previously told The Guardian he was “still strapped in” with his seatbelt.
His wife Svetlana said they were “eternally grateful” to one passenger who she believes is Albanian for his part in the rescue.
double quotation mark He did all he could to bring him in and then tried to block the window, first with a bag that was immediately sucked out and then with a suitcase, which worked.
Source: The Guardian. Summary reproduced for informational purposes.
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