Ryanair flight depressurized after engine failure, NTSB says

The US National Transportation Safety Board says a Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen depressurized after an engine fan blade broke during ascent on July 16, sending fragments through the fuselage and damaging a cabin window.

In a preliminary report published Thursday, the NTSB said a flight attendant saw a passenger partially lodged in the damaged window, with the entire window missing. Other passengers pulled him back inside, and the report said he suffered serious injuries.

Investigators found bird remains inside the engine, but the NTSB did not say why the fan blade broke. It said fragments also damaged other parts of the fuselage and the right horizontal stabilizer.

A passenger told Radio Thessaloniki there was “a noise, like a tyre bursting” and that people immediately realised there had been decompression. The full NTSB investigation is continuing, with a final report pending.