The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has found bird remains, including feathers, inside the damaged engine of a Ryanair-operated Boeing 737 involved in a 10 July departure incident from Thessaloniki, Greece. Preliminary findings indicate a fan blade broke off, sent fragments into the airframe and shattered a window, causing cabin depressurisation that partially pulled a passenger toward the breach.
The aircraft, operated by Malta Air for Ryanair, was bound for Germany when the incident occurred shortly after takeoff. Investigators said the engine damage and bird remains support a bird-strike scenario, although the exact chain of events remains under review in a preliminary report. The jet returned to Thessaloniki after the event.
The case is being watched closely because it combines engine containment, bird-ingestion risk and cabin decompression in a single sequence. Such events are rare but can escalate quickly when a liberated fan blade or other engine fragment breaches the fuselage. U.S. and international investigators are involved in the examination of the Boeing 737-800, which remains central to the inquiry into how the failure developed.