Complex sentence: Reports from passengers tended to confirm the idea that some sort of antimissile defence system had been deployed; eyewitnesses reported seeing a small explosion above one of the plane's wings, suggesting that decoy flares had been fired.
Split into simpler sentences: Reports from passengers tended to confirm the idea that some sort of antimissile defence system had been deployed. Eyewitnesses reported seeing a small explosion above one of the plane's wings, suggesting that decoy flares had been fired.