Well that developed very quickly - from nothing to 40 bodies found and what is rumoured to be a shadow of the fuselage on the ocean floor.
This situation is incomparable to MH370, simply for the fact that the waters in this region are diveable depths (200m IIRC) as opposed to The depth of the Grand Canyon where MH370 is believed to be.
A couple of things regarding this are interesting, all be it very sad for those involved. Early reports indicate the bodies are in one piece, which is fairly unusual for a supposed "Dive from Fl36" - Does this suggest a somewhat controlled approach / crash, but at a higher velocity than that is survivable? Also, the bodies not attached to chairs is an interesting point raised by someone else.
Secondly, the sudden surge of bodies all in one location, all of a sudden - does this not suggest the plane was in fact largely intact and the bodies have now started floating to the top along with Panels, PAX door etc - Again, does not fit with the dive suggestions or mid air break up.
There was reportedly a trail of smoke from one of the islands in the vicinity of the body locations - Any more news on this?
Finally, Could this be a case of AF again in as such the crew were so overwhelmed with the situation they simply didn't make a distress call for whatever reason. My gut feeling is, they were already in trouble when they made the request for FL38 (ATC comms and tones of voice would confirm this).
Also - I've not had a chance to see the flight plans / routes. It was reported that there was traffic at FL38 which is why the request was denied. If the plane did make a sudden climb to FL36 and was getting thrown around, would TCAS of alarmed of a collision warning to compound an already confused situation in the cockpit?
As we all know, MOST, but not all incidents involve the hole in the cheese effect. I'm not a qualified Pilot (although I am learning), but i appreciate and enjoy discussing things with you guys here.
As a well-travelled PAX and enthusiast, it does pain me to see how this industry has gone in the last few years in the effort to save costs and provide bang for buck for shareholders at the expense of Training, Safety and affectively, UAV Drone pilots rather than hands-on flying.
Keep doing your jobs well and safely. Whatever occurred that night, let's hope we as passengers, Professionals and human beings can learn from it.
My personal opinion is, if the general public were better educated how the training flaws, budget cuts, questionable maintenance, working hours and salaries were affecting the industry, we would have a better Aviation transport system.