>>An eye witness need not be a rocket scientist to confrim an aircraft exploding before hitting the ground.<<
Yes but this "inflight explosion" and fire is almost always reported by someone whether it actually occured or not in airliner accidents.
Also, something is often lost or gained in translation and journalist editing of public comments, e.g. confusion between the angle of bank and the angle of turn in the recent CX "sporty approach" incident. If you've used the older Airbus manuals you know how misleading faulty technical translations can be.