A woman who held onto her husband’s legs as he was almost sucked head-first out of a Ryanair cabin window on Friday said “half his body was sticking out of the plane”.

Svetlana Grković, who was traveling with her husband Ljubisa Karović from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany, told Greek public broadcaster ERT that she was “chest-deep outside” for two minutes.

“I reacted immediately and grabbed his legs. I thought: ‘If we die, we will die together,'” Grković told Serbian outlet Nova.

With the help of two other passengers, Grković said she was able to get her husband, who she said lost consciousness three times, back inside.

Grković said it appeared as if part of the plane’s engine had ruptured, shattering the window next to her husband and causing decompression in the cabin. Other passengers also reported hearing what sounded like an explosion.

A technical advisor appointed by the family believes the incident began with a failure in the plane’s right engine, which caused debris to hit and shatter the cockpit window before a rapid loss of cabin pressure occurred. This assessment has not been confirmed by researchers.

Passengers previously told local media that Karović had kept his seat belt fastened, helping those on board hold him in while his head and shoulders were outside.

Svetlana Grković said her 61-year-old husband is “seriously injured and in shock.”

“For me it is important that he is alive… his hand is especially injured and has burns. He cannot communicate, he does not remember the whole event,” he said.

The Ryanair flight was in the air for about 10 minutes, tracking data shows, when it abruptly dropped 9,000 feet (2,700 m).

In a statement, Ryanair said its Friday morning flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen returned “shortly after take-off when a passenger window broke off on the flight.”

“The plane landed normally and the passengers returned to the terminal. One passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki,” the Irish low-cost airline said.