Even if they have reached the surface, how would anyone know? Would communications randomly start working again?
My assumption is that there was a sudden compression due to a haul failure/structural failure. That would explain why everything went dark, and they've not been able to track the GPS, b/c everything was suddenly destroyed in an instant. Scientists track sharks and marine life w/ GPS for years, so why wouldn't GPS be able to track this sub w/ human lives in it?
PURE speculation, but it also could be some whacked out, sinister murder/suicide situation (German airline pilot, anyone?), where the captain sabotages the machinery, or purposely took them to depths the structure couldn't handle...(likely impossible to determine unless there's some note)
I guess a sudden compression death would be "better" than slowly suffocating for several days...or just being lost at sea forever and starving/dying of thirst.
I've been in a submarine, but not even a fraction of these depths...I would find zero value in being at the bottom of the ocean floor in a coffin sized machine that takes 10 hours to reach the surface.
