Mr GG2 thinks the fire started from the engine on the right side that is jammed up to the side of the plane. It was probably so hot it started the fire.
He says the wings are pinned so that if you have a hard landing the engine breaks away and slides under the wing and then is left behind. Apparently this engine somehow stayed with the aircraft and set off the fire.
Not the fuselage breaking apart and all that fuel and sparks causing the fire?
"wings are pinned so that if you have a hard landing the engine breaks away and slides under the wing and then is left behind"
Not to argue too much, but engines are not designed to shear off on a hard/crash landing.
Engines go from zero to 100% thrust pretty darned quick and you need them to hold on, hour after hour, years after year after year, engine thrust up and down countless times. What would be the NDI process used to determine if the designed-to-shear-off (fail) engine was due for replacement? Imagine the liability issues for designing a critical flight component to “fail.”
Basically, engines are not designed to shear off. Most mishaps the engines do shear off and travel ahead of the impact site. Why? Because they are heavy and producing thrust when the aircraft impacts the ground (assuming a semi-level flight path). In those cases the engines pull ahead of the rapidly disintegrating, very light-weight airframe due to inertia and residue thrust.
The fact that one engine remained on the fuselage indicates possibly low power—consistent with low/idle power at landing. The other engine separating could indicate the engine impacted the ground and submarined into the dirt, breaking it off.
Regardless, it is amazing so many survived. . .simply amazing.