In a crisis like this, the data is needed very rapidly indeed. Had that been available, fast jets could have been dispatched to the GPS location to survey, and shortly after, assistance dropped as necessary, hopefully long before nightfall.
These days the airplanes are highly automated. History of LOC accidents and incidents shows that an FBW aircraft can accouter a panoply of flight laws and an endless stream of ECAM messages that can overwhelm any crew, as happened for an A380 over Singapore. Luckily, in A380 case, in addition to the normal crew of Captain, First and Second Officer, there were two additional check captains, all together did a great job in saving the plane.
An automated emergency system not only will alert the nearest rescue team in real time but it would open the possibility of streaming live the aircraft data to a very specialized team on duty, on a ground base station of experienced pilots and engineers . They will grasp the situation and work in real time with crew in distress given more chances of positive outcome.