Ryanair Passenger Who Is 'Alive by Mistake' Speaks Out

The bang came first. Serbian businessman Ljubisa Karovic says "the explosion is what I remember" as his Ryanair window shattered, he tells the Guardian in an interview given 11 days after the incident. He was pulled halfway out of the plane at 15,000 feet and immediately lost consciousness. The 61-year-old, strapped into seat 11F on a flight from Greece to Germany, was left with burns, bruises, and a neck injury but survived, with his lawyer characterizing him as "being alive by mistake."

Karovic and his wife say fellow passengers, not flight attendants, held him in and blocked the gaping window, "first with a bag that was immediately sucked out and then with a suitcase, which worked," says his wife. Ryanair insists its crew followed safety procedures by remaining in their seats until a safe altitude was reached, at which point they "assisted Mr. Karovic, moving him to alternate seats (beside his wife) and arranged for a doctor onboard to sit with them."

Says Karovic, "I don't remember much and my head and neck still hurt but I am still alive. It could have been the seatbelt, the fact that I was still strapped in. But maybe it is fate. I believe in God and I thank him every day." But still, "It's the noise before the chaos, the noise that is always there when I close my eyes to sleep."