Originally Posted by
Nomad2
Clearly, the cause remains unknown at the moment- but why no radio calls from the aircraft?
if a fire or mechanical failure had occurred, there would certainly have been a call.
Whatever happened, seems to have immediately brought normal comms to an abrupt end.
Therefore a shootdown, or possibly an onboard explosive device must be the most likely explanation.
Boeing have had their troubles recently, but their aircraft do not spontaneously self combust.
Having looked at the pictures of the debris field and what's left of the aircraft (look at the centre wing tank section) I would suspect the following:
1) SAM
2) On board explosive
In a word, terrible.
Time for the world to "get it together".