Aug 13 (Reuters) - Bird remains were found in the engine of

a Ryanair Boeing 737 NG plane where a passenger

was partially sucked through a broken window shortly after

takeoff from Greece in July, the U.S. National Transportation

Safety Board said on Thursday.

The NTSB is investigating the incident where a piece of the

engine broke off the plane and smashed the window. The plane,

headed to Germany, lost pressure and was forced to make an

emergency landing.

The NTSB said in its preliminary report into the July 10

incident that four suspected bird strikes to the airplane's No.

2 engine were reported by flight crew in the 12 months preceding

the accident.

"Bird remains were reportedly found in two of the cases,"

although no damage was located during subsequent maintenance, it

said.

The NTSB said the CFM engine made by a venture between

France's Safran and U.S.-based General Electric ( GE )

had been inspected in May with no findings.

Boeing ( BA ) and Ryanair declined to comment on Thursday. GE and

Safran were not immediately available for comment.

The NTSB, an independent U.S. government agency that

investigates civil transportation accidents, is leading the

investigation into the Ryanair flight.

The agency said it is still looking at whether the incident

is similar to other cases, such as an April 2018 engine failure

on a U.S. Southwest Airlines flight that killed a

passenger who was partially sucked out the window.

"The investigative team is aware of previous ... events with

similar engine models that resulted in damage to engine inlets

or cowlings and fuselage structures," the report said.

"Determination of any relevant similarities or details between

this accident and previous events remains under investigation."

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford told Reuters in an

interview: "I don't think the early indications are ‌that (the

⁠recent Ryanair problem) mimics what the Southwest ( LUV ) incident

was."