Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has denied that a passenger was partially sucked out of a broken window when an aircraft engine exploded on a flight from Greece to Germany.
Ljubisa Karovic, 61, suffered neck and shoulder injuries alongside friction burns when flying debris from a failed engine blade pierced the fuselage of the Boeing 737 in July, causing a sudden loss of cabin pressure.
His wife and fellow passengers described holding the man by his legs as he was pulled towards the jagged hole, but speaking after the budget airline's annual general meeting in Dublin on Thursday, O'Leary disputed their account of the terrifying ordeal.
The chief executive, who has built Ryanair into Europe's largest airline, said Karovic was not partly outside the window. He said the airline did not believe any part of the passenger's body went out of the aircraft, though he acknowledged the man was drawn towards the window under very dramatic circumstances.
O'Leary added that the injured passenger was entitled to financial compensation for what he suffered, but suggested the final figure should not run into millions and millions.
Passengers describe terrifying ordeal
The airline boss's version of the mid-air emergency contradicts the dramatic accounts given by those on board the July 10 flight, which was travelling from the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki to Memmingen, an airport in Bavaria widely used by low-cost carriers.
Karovic was sitting in a window seat over the wing and had his seatbelt securely fastened when the catastrophic mechanical failure occurred.
When a pressurised aircraft hull is breached at high altitude, the dense air inside the cabin rushes violently outwards to equalise with the thin atmosphere outside, creating a powerful vacuum effect that can pull loose objects and people towards the opening.
His wife, Svetlana Maksimovic, previously described hearing a deafening noise followed immediately by this sudden decompression, which she said pulled her husband towards the shattered window frame.
She said she held desperately onto his legs while other travellers rushed from their seats to help pull him back into the safety of the cabin.
Other passengers reported scenes of absolute panic immediately after the window broke. One woman told Greek media that a loud bang sounding like a burst tyre was followed by screaming and shouting throughout the aircraft.
Engine debris shattered fuselage
A preliminary report by the US National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the inquiry, has since established the sequence of events that led to the severe damage.
The aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 operating flight FR1879 by Ryanair subsidiary Malta Air, suffered a fan blade failure in its right engine as it climbed away from Macedonia airport. The twin-engine jet is the workhorse of the global aviation industry and the mainstay of the Ryanair fleet.
The safety board found that metal fragments from the disintegrating engine were fired directly into the fuselage, piercing the outer shell and causing the cabin to depressurise.
The flying debris severely damaged the window next to Karovic, creating the dangerous opening directly beside his seat.
Flight attendants gave investigators a vivid picture of the seconds that followed. They reported hearing and feeling a strong, continuous vibration shuddering through the aircraft.
They said smoke or a mist-like substance filled the cabin almost immediately, while emergency oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling panels for passengers to use.
After passengers went to Karovic's aid, cabin crew provided a metal box which was used to temporarily cover the hole in the fuselage and slow the loss of air.
International aviation inquiry continues
There were 155 people on board the aircraft when the engine failed, comprising 149 passengers including one infant, two pilots and four cabin crew members.
Karovic was the only person to sustain serious physical injuries during the emergency, requiring treatment for the wounds to his neck and shoulder.
The pilots immediately abandoned the scheduled journey to Germany and turned the stricken aircraft back to Thessaloniki, where it made a safe emergency landing without further incident.
The Greek Air Accident Investigation and Aviation Safety Board transferred full responsibility for the inquiry to the American safety board on July 16, a standard procedure when an aircraft and its engines are manufactured in the United States.
Representatives from Boeing, the engine manufacturer and Ryanair are all participating in the ongoing technical investigation.
While the mechanical cause of the blowout and the severity of the passenger's injuries are not in dispute, the exact position of the man's body in the seconds after the window broke remains the subject of open disagreement between the airline and the family as they prepare to discuss compensation.
