Slats 11:
You can't have it both ways however. Most scenarios which cause sudden loss of communications will cause lots of debris. Conversely, most scenarios that cause minimal debris imply control and hence communications should be maintained.
Sudden loss of all communications could be due to catastrophic structural failure which would cause lots of debris, or an AF447 like event which also caused fragmentation at impact and lots of floating debris. They found lots of debris fairly quickly (days) with AF447 - even though
i. the initial search was delayed by at least a day
ii. the search area was much larger (they didn't "see" loss of the transponder with 447)
iii. the search area was mid-ocean (severely complicating the search by limiting aircraft time on scene and delaying arrival of ships).
None of that applies here.
There simply are not that many explanations for sudden loss of all communications and no debris - especially in a small area.
January 1, 2007 Adam Air Flight KI-574, flying from Surabaya, on Java Island, to Manado, on Sulawesi Island, disappeared in bad weather with 102 people aboard. It took 10 days for any trace of wreckage to be found.