If true, it means 230 peoples lives are in the fate of a group crazy enough and smart enough to hijack a plane undetected. I don't even want to think about that too much. The situation they are in must be hell.
But if true then there is hope these people will be well treated, because if you wanted to just kill them, they would be dead already.
I bet you could get $500,000,000 ransom for the safe return of the plane, the crew, and the passengers. The plane alone is worth $100 million.
Half a billion buys a lot of military hardware on the open market.
Odds are they are dead, at the bottom of the ocean. Flying low enough to avoid radar will significantly shorten the range (denser air at low altitude, etc).
