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A 61-year-old Serbian man suffered serious injuries after a bird strike caused a fan blade to break off a Ryanair flight.

A 61-year-old Serbian man was seriously injured after a fan blade from the No. 2 engine of a Ryanair flight fractured and sent debris into the cabin. The incident occurred on July 10 during a flight from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany. According to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board, a bird strike likely caused the engine failure, as bird remains and feathers were found deep inside the engine. The debris from the broken blade breached the fuselage and caused the cabin to depressurize, shattering a window in row 11. The Serbian man, who was sitting in seat 11F, was partially sucked out of the plane through the missing window. Other passengers and crew members assisted in pulling him back into the cabin, where he received treatment from an onboard doctor. While the Serbian man suffered serious injuries, the remaining 148 passengers and six crew members remained unhurt. The National Transportation Safety Board is continuing to investigate the incident to determine the final cause.

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