Pressure change likely caused AirAsia jet to explode before impact - govt official

An Airbus investigator walks near part of the tail of the AirAsia QZ8501 passenger plane in Kumai Port, near Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan January 12, 2015. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside

PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia (Reuters) - The AirAsia airliner that crashed two weeks ago in Indonesia likely "experienced an explosion" before hitting the water due to a significant change in air pressure, a senior government official said on Monday. "My analysis is, based on the wreckage found and other findings, the plane experienced an explosion before it hit the water," Supriyadi, operations coordinator at the National Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters. He said the left side of the plane seemed to have disintegrated, pointing to a change in pressure that could have caused an explosion. (Reporting by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)