Wife recalls moment she clung onto husband's legs after he was sucked out of plane window at 20,000ft

A wife who held on to her husband's legs as he was nearly sucked out of a Ryan Air flight at 20,000ft has opened up on the fight to save his life.

Speaking to news outlet NOVA, Svetlana Grković described what was going through her mind as her husband, Ljubiša Karović was nearly ejected into the skies above Thessaloniki.

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

"I reacted immediately and grabbed his legs. I thought: 'If we die, we die together.' It was horrible."

The pair, who are from Serbia, faced a battle to survive, with Svetlana holding on to her husband's legs for nearly five minutes as he was hanging out of the plane window 'up to his chest'.

Reportedly, passengers heard a huge boom just moments after take-off, which was discovered to be the plane’s window smashing into pieces.

Ljubiša was sucked through the window, and literally had to hang on for dear life.

Fortunately, Svetlana reacted quickly enough to grab his legs, which she held for over five minutes while fellow passengers battled to pull him back into the cabin.

The Boeing 737-800, 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.

The Boeing 737-800, 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. (Photo by Emanuele Cremaschi/Getty Images)

Why did the plane's window shatter?

Speaking to ERT, Svetlana said that without the intervention of fellow passengers, who helped to hold on to her husband's legs, the story could have been very different.

She said: "Some people came to my aid, I remember one man and one woman. That man helped me a lot, Ljubiša and I," adding that she would love to thank the passengers in real life who helped to save her husband's life.

Ljubiša Karović remains in hospital, unable to speak because of the severity of his injuries. He is covered in friction burns and remains in a state of severe shock.

Speaking to the BBC, Svetlana Grković said her 61-year-old husband is 'seriously injured and in shock'.

"It's important to me that he's alive... his hand is particularly badly injured, and he's got burns. He's not able to communicate, he doesn't remember the whole event," she said.

Mr Karović comes from Vrnjačka Banja in central Serbia but has spent a lot of time in Greece, where he sells and rents apartments in the resorts of Paralija and Olympic Beach.

What did Ryanair say about the incident?

The Ryanair flight was in the air for about 10 minutes before plummeting 9,000ft (2,700m).

In a statement, Ryanair said its Friday morning flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen returned "shortly after take-off when a passenger window dislodged in flight".

"The aircraft landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal. One passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki," the Irish budget airline said.

"We immediately realised there had been a decompression. There were screams... for a moment I thought someone had accidentally opened the emergency door," Christina, a fellow passenger, told Radio Thessaloniki.

Another passenger, Sofia, told Radio Thessaloniki: "We thought the plane was going down. The decompression was extreme. It felt like we couldn't breathe. The man who was injured was bleeding and then lost consciousness several times, most likely because of the lack of oxygen and the shock."