Two weeks after the incident on the Ryanair flight between Thessaloniki and Munich, 61-year-old Ljubiša Karović, with a collar around his neck, is collecting evidence and planning a lawsuit, but above all he is looking for an answer to the question - who is responsible for, according to his and witnesses' claims, peering out of the Boeing 737 for about two minutes, writes RTS.
"At the moment, the investigative authorities are conducting an investigation. We expect to receive an answer about what happened and who is responsible in approximately 30 days," Karović's lawyer Vasilis Tsijaras told the public service, adding that a criminal investigation has already been launched in Thessaloniki.
The lawyer points out to this media that immediately after the incident, they hired a technical expert, who, together with experts appointed by the competent authorities, inspected the plane, photographed the damage and collected documentation.
"Based on that, we have a working hypothesis. I am not a technical person, but according to my view of the situation, a fragment from the engine pierced the engine paneling, then hit the window, which broke and caused the decompression of the passenger cabin," said Ciaras, noting that for now it is only a hypothesis and official reports are awaited, writes this media.
Both Boeing and General Electric could be sued
Who will be sued, as well as how much compensation will be sought, also depends on the official report.
"There are a number of ways to get compensation. For example, we could also sue Boeing or General Electric, which, as far as I know, along with CFM, is an engine manufacturer... We're in the early stages of the process right now, so the issue of compensation is not the main issue at this point. But we're sure to seek significant compensation from whoever is responsible — Ryanair, Boeing and others. Of course, provided that their liability is established, and we believe that it is very likely that it exists", Ciaras points out for RTS.
A few days ago, information from the investigation allegedly appeared in the media.
Namely, Ryanair's owner and CEO Michael O'Leary stated that the preliminary investigation indicates that "it appears that the engine was damaged by a foreign object during takeoff from Thessaloniki." However, BBC reports, he also stated that this cannot be confirmed with certainty yet, RTS reports.
O'Leary also said that the engine on the 18-year-old Boeing 737 had been fully serviced and overhauled over the previous two years.
Ljubiša Karović's lawyer emphasizes that O'Leary expressed a personal position, and not something on which there is necessarily an agreement of the investigating authorities. He also emphasizes that the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has criticized the public disclosure of information about the investigation, which is still ongoing.
The assumption, he explains, is that something inside the engine either came loose or broke, and then those parts, or fragments, caused further breakage and the creation of an even greater number of fragments.
What does Ryaner say, and what do the witnesses say
Ryaner's claims about the possible cause of the incident are not the only thing that Karovic and his lawyer dispute. The claim of the owner of that airline that none of the passengers were pulled from the plane is not true, they say, and that such a claim is "meaningless".
Ciaras says the witnesses say otherwise.
"The passenger who was sitting next to Karović will confirm that she, together with another passenger, an Albanian, put him back on the plane after he was partially pulled out due to decompression," Ciaras said.
Karovic's head and right arm were, he says, outside the plane for about two minutes - at an altitude of about 15.000 feet and a speed of about 560 kilometers per hour.
This, he points out, is confirmed by his injuries - bruises under the right armpit and head and shoulder injuries.
"When he was transported to the hospital, his wife, before speaking to anyone, stated that he had been dragged from the plane. This was recorded in the medical records," Ciaras claimed.
No one even visited him.
The airline said its customer care team has been in constant contact with the family since the incident. Attorney Ciaras states that the company sent several emails and made two or three calls with his son, since he was the one who bought the flight tickets.
"There was no direct contact with Karović, even though he was in the hospital for almost seven days. They never visited him or tried to contact him. They could have called the hospital, they could have sent someone to visit him," said Ciaras.
He claims that Ryanair did not offer material, psychological or any other support to his client, and that there was no help from the cabin crew during the flight - although the company said the crew did a phenomenal job.
"None of the flight attendants came to ask him how he was feeling. He passed out, he asked for water, but the only water he got was from other passengers. As far as he told me, the only help a crew member gave him was only after landing, when an ambulance was already waiting at the airport," the lawyer says, adding that the pilot did his job well and landed the passengers safely according to procedure.
He also disputes that after the incident, Karović was moved next to his wife, who was sitting three rows behind him, in order to get away from the broken window. He also notes that none of the crew provided him with medical assistance during the flight, but that an ophthalmologist called when the passengers asked if there was a doctor among them.
He recalls that Karović lost consciousness three times during the summer, and that, after spending a week in the hospital, he still wears a collar around his neck.
Source: RTS
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