A viral video has captured the harrowing aftermath inside a Ryanair aircraft after a broken engine component shattered a cabin window, causing a passenger to be partially sucked through the opening mid-flight.

According to the BBC, a preliminary report by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has detailed how a detached fan blade fractured the fuselage shortly after the aircraft took off from Thessaloniki, Greece.

The debris destroyed an adjacent window, pulling Serbian passenger Ljubisa Karović headfirst into the opening. Karović suffered severe trauma and acute shock after sudden depressurisation pulled his upper body through the fractured frame.

His wife, Svetlana Grković Maksimović, later said she and two fellow passengers managed to hold him by his legs for several minutes until the situation stabilised and cabin pressure was restored.

Speaking to Serbian outlet Nova, Svetlana said: “We pulled him back together. His entire face was deformed and blood was pouring from his nose and mouth. I reacted and grabbed his legs thinking, ‘If we die, we die together.’”

Before the incident, the Malta Air-operated flight to Memmingen, Germany, had reported severe engine vibrations. A loud explosion then prompted the pilots to declare an emergency.

The crew subsequently returned to Thessaloniki International Airport, where they landed safely.

“The crew elected to return to SKG [Thessaloniki International Airport] where they made an uneventful landing,” the NTSB report stated.

The safety board also found that the engine had undergone routine ultrasonic maintenance checks two months before the incident.

US federal regulators are leading the investigation alongside Greek aviation authorities.