[bean-weevil]

That last quote is saying that if tank hits the ground but it's not compromised enough for pressure to escape, disturbing it could cause it to release all that pressurized fuel at once ("explode"). Hopefully in the original context they explained that this is not very likely.

[perihelions]

I think composite-overwrapped pressure vessels could survive intact, though those are technically not fuel, but inert pressurant gasses. I believe Starship uses both helium and CO2.

One of the Falcon ones reentered as space debris in Washington state, in 2021,

https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/2/22364582/spacex-rocket-deb... ("SpaceX rocket debris lands on man’s farm in Washington")

edit: There's a few other examples on page 47 of

(.pdf) https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/Report_to_Congress_R... ("Risk Associated with Reentry Disposal of Satellites from Proposed Large Constellations in Low Earth Orbit" (2021))

edit²: Here's what the Starship COPV's look like (being recovered from the Indian ocean),

https://old.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/1h1l1gk/starship_s3...

[russdill]

Ya, there are real risks, COPVs, burning batteries, and the flight termination system explosives.

[eco]

The steel on the fuel tanks of Starship is only four millimeters thick. The chance of it surviving are basically non-existent.

I imagine the journalist was just fishing for expert quotes that fit their predetermined narrative and leaving everything the expert said about the unlikelihood out.