Which increases my surmise that the plane is on the ground, intact and being fitted for its next flight. You?
My surmise is the same as yours.
Only logical explanation since nothing has been found on the ocean surface. The numbers of people that were awakened in the Maldives say they saw a large airliner that morning flying at low altitude to the SSE that morning at about the same time it could have been in that area is telling as there is an airfield on the southern most island of the chain that was long enough to land it and take off again.
Again, no reports of any kind that any investigative team even going there. Plus the Maldives are essentially Islamic. Remember, they have been having their own separatist issues going on there as well.