Can't trust the news when it comes to explaining aircraft issues. Was it a DC-3 that lost a cylinder and they had the window open and the prop feathered? Or it could have been a multiple of problems where they had an electrical malfunction that caused a short creating smoke and then the lose of an engine at the same time. Who knows until the NTSB report comes out.

If it was a jet liner with an engine fire and smoke from the fire reached the cabin or flightdeck, then a very large fireball would follow since the gas tanks are between the fuse and the engine.