I was on this flight and surprisingly the radio new zealand report is in fact, the more accurate. There was 3 bangs close together, a violent slewing of the aircraft and fine blue smoke inside the cabin. An experience not to be repeated.
From a smooth cruise to a sudden loud unexpected bang or multiple bangs and yaw would likely cause even the most switched on crew up front to be victim of the startle factor and lose a few seconds before they had things calmly under control up front
"A violent slewing of the aircraft". No one is criticising the professionalism of the crew. Sometimes pilots do actually read a newspaper in flight. Others prefer to entertain themselves chatting up a female FA when she visits the flight deck. Nothing wrong with that. Often a pilot will fill in the fuel log in flight. The words "f..k and "s...it" are part of normal crew conversation in flight with some people and a startled oath when faced with an unexpected loud event in flight is entirely normal. The `violent slewing` described by the Pprune correspondent above is either a lie (I don't think so, do you?) or an accurate description of the event as it affected that contributor.
The post by A37575 was light hearted humour and tongue in cheek. Some people take themselves too seriously... lighten, up chaps