Thessaloniki (Greece) (AFP) – A man was nearly sucked out the window of a Ryanair flight when it “detached” mid-air en route to Germany, with other passengers pulling him back inside, witnesses and officials said Friday.

The passenger, described as a tourist from Serbia on a flight from Thessaloniki in Greece to Memmingen in Germany, has been hospitalised with friction burns but was otherwise in good condition, authorities said.

“Most of us had fallen asleep, we had closed our eyes. There was a noise, like a tyre bursting,” a fellow passenger told Radio Thessaloniki.

“We immediately realised there had been a decompression. There were screams … for a moment I thought someone had accidentally opened the emergency door,” the woman said.

“The masks dropped and there was a strong smell. The head and shoulders of one passenger were outside the window. Fortunately, he hadn’t taken off his seat belt.”

Other passengers near the man helped to pull him in, she said.

Greek media reported the incident had occurred over North Macedonia, and said the window had been broken by a piece of debris that detached from one of the plane’s engines.

Ryanair in a statement said the flight “returned to Thessaloniki shortly after takeoff when a passenger window detached during the flight. The aircraft landed normally and the passengers returned to the terminal.”

A replacement aircraft was made available to transport the remaining passengers to Memmingen, the Irish carrier said.