[GalaxieFiveHundred]

Explosion in the cargo bay?

The close-up photo doesn't appear to reveal any evidence of explosive-related burns or the like, so if it wasn't an airframe/mechanical failure of some sort, may have been a can/cannister/tank under pressure in the cargo or passenger baggage that exploded.

[dragnet2]

I can't really tell anything from the photograph except there appears to be a hole in the aircraft. My first gut feeling was something went off in the cargo bay.

The investigation will reveal exactly what occurred in this case.

[spanalot]

agreed

[El Gato]

The close-up photo doesn't appear to reveal any evidence of explosive-related burns or the like

I thought that too, but then I remembered that triacetone triperoxide, TATP, AKA the Mother of Satan, is a favored Jihadie explosive. It was used in the 2005(?) London train bombings, by the idiot who blew himself up outside an OK U football game, and by Richard Reid, who had plastic explosive shoes, but with a TATP detonator.

The stuff produces a pretty "cool" explosion, by the nature of the reaction which produces it.

So I wouldn't rule out an explosion just yet. But the stuff does leave quite a signature, so we should know soon, if they choose to tell us. (TATP contains no nitrogen, and thus can "get by", *some* explosive detection devices.)