A Ryanair traveler sustained injuries after a cabin window became dislodged on a flight from Greece to Germany early Friday, according to the carrier.

Regional news sources indicated that a 61-year-old passenger was drawn outward through the opening up to his shoulders when engine debris struck the window. A witness informed Radio Thessaloniki that other travelers helped pull the man back into the cabin.

Reuters referenced industry contacts who confirmed a passenger was drawn partway out of the window.

Flight 1879 left Thessaloniki, Greece, around 6 a.m. bound for Memmingen, Germany, on a trip lasting about two hours. Roughly 10 minutes after departure, the Boeing 737 Max reversed course, circled the area, and returned to land at Thessaloniki.

Footage and photos from Radio Thessaloniki displayed the damaged window along with oxygen masks deployed from the overhead compartments. The absent window led to cabin depressurization.

A Ryanair representative stated that the aircraft turned back after a passenger window came loose during the flight but did not verify accounts of anyone being drawn outward. The statement noted that one traveler sought and obtained medical help upon landing in Thessaloniki.

The aircraft touched down without further issues, and a substitute plane handled the rescheduled service that departed at 9:53 a.m.

Those on board arrived in Memmingen roughly four hours behind the original timetable.

Parallels With Southwest Flight 1380

The reason for the window detaching remains unknown, though cases of engine parts impacting the aircraft body have occurred before.

In 2016, a fan blade on a Southwest Airlines 737 fractured from metal fatigue and created a five-inch opening in the fuselage without harming anyone.

Two years afterward, Southwest Flight 1380 encountered a similar engine failure when a fan blade broke free and hit a window, resulting in a passenger being drawn partway out. That individual was returned inside but later succumbed to injuries.

The Southwest planes were Boeing 737-700 models from the prior generation to the Max in the Ryanair event, yet all three aircraft employed CFM56-7B26 engines.

Following the Southwest fatality, regulators in the US and Europe required ultrasonic checks of CFM fan blades to spot cracks, which uncovered more than a dozen compromised engines worldwide.

The agencies also shortened the inspection cycle from every 3,000 flight cycles to every 1,600. These enhanced checks aim to catch fatigue issues sooner and lower the likelihood of serious failures, though they do not remove all risk.