After being nearly sucked out of the plane: The multi-million lawsuit against Ryanair and new suspicions

Will the nightmare of Ljubisa Karovic, the passenger who was sucked out of a Ryanair flight, become a financial nightmare for the airline, potentially costing it tens of millions of euros?

Karovic, a 61-year-old Serbian citizen, has announced through his lawyer that he intends to sue Ryanair for millions of euros. About five weeks ago, during a flight from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Bavaria, Germany, the window next to his seat suddenly shattered, causing the upper part of his body to be sucked out of the plane.

Karovic’s head and part of his upper body remained outside the aircraft for about two minutes while it was flying at an altitude of approximately five kilometers at a speed of 600 km/h, with external temperatures ranging from -17 to -20 degrees Celsius. The passenger was saved because he was wearing a seatbelt and because his wife, sitting next to him, held his legs with the help of other passengers, preventing him from being fully pulled out.

Karovic, who fainted several times before the emergency landing, suffered a head injury due to extreme pressure and severe frostbite on his right arm.

According to interim findings, there is a suspicion that foreign objects entered the engine after takeoff, leading to an explosion. Parts of the damaged engine shattered the window exactly where Karovic was sitting, causing the air pressure to pull him outward.

Karovic, along with 35 other passengers out of the 149 on board, has decided to file a lawsuit expected to reach tens of millions of euros. "Not only Mr. Karovic, but all my clients faced death in this incident," said Greek lawyer Vasilios Tsiaras in an interview with the German news site BILD. Tsiaras is preparing a class-action lawsuit after an initial report by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that an engine blade broke, damaging the fuselage and the window.

Lawyer Tsiaras also addressed claims from Ryanair sources that the passenger was not sucked through the window, stating: "There are about 70 people on the plane who witnessed that he was sucked out. There is no doubt that if he hadn't been wearing a seatbelt, he would not have survived. Five weeks later, he is recovering physically, but his mental state remains very poor."

While media reports suggested a bird strike—as bird remains were found in the engine—the lawyer argues: "We believe that birds alone could not have caused such extensive damage."

The final amount of the lawsuit will be determined after the experts' final report. The plaintiffs are demanding an investigation into whether the 18-year-old Boeing 737-800 was maintained according to schedule and whether metal fatigue in the engine blade played a role. Ryanair’s spokesperson stated: "We will not comment until the NTSB investigation is completed."