[Uncle Chip]

It seems the plane flew on until it ran out of fuel.

Which means that the pilot could have put it on auto-pilot and bailed out.

[John W]

For the cubicle bound, what was offered today that was new and confirming to any extent?

[bert]

Erlier it was noted tat the Chinese photo resembled the emergency disembarkation chute.

That can be taken to mean that the plane made a water landing and the emergency disembarkation equipment deployed. Extrapolating that thought, there should be seat cushions or other flotation devices still around after the folks holding them gave up and drowned.