The fate of the passengers of Flight MH370 will likely end sadly though as someone who has been in this situation you never give up hope that a miracle will happen.
Even now with the conflicting statements from the airline and from other sources, many have hope that by some miracle their loved ones are alive.
The truth is likely much more sad.
The idea that someone turned off the transponder, (which is never done under normal operating procedures) makes for news worthy media attention however the fact is that it would be almost impossible to hide a plane that large on the ground.
We may never know what happened at least not the entire story but it does mean that security was an issue and remains one of the biggest issues effecting air line travel.