"It didn't explode - the front fell off"
If reports are accurate, two or more fan blades separated from the fan disc and tore a hole (or holes) in the casing and possibly ripping away one or more panels; presumably the passing air then tore away the rest of the casing and then, without anything to hold it on, the front fairing fell off. It does not appear to have gone first - if part of the fairing had failed and had gone through the engine, I would expect more than just two blades to fail, and it would have caused damage to a lot more parts as it went through the rest of the engine.
From the pictures of the one in the Netherlands, it appears to be the front compressor fan which failed - although that is just behind the fairing and the blades would go out and/or backwards, not forwards unless it was a very strange failure indeed.
And most definitely not typical.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
