I have always been told that an aircraft ditching into a body of water is immensely more destructive and dangerous than a crash landing on solid ground. Water is like concrete in many respects, with the added inconvenience that it changes shape rapidly; anyone know why a belly flop or landing flat on your back after a failed dive causes so much pain? One chap said a water ditching is one step below, in terms of severity and survivability, crashing head on into the side of a mountain.

My guess would be that if an aircraft survived a water landing, it would probably rapidly sink, and too quickly for passengers to evacuate completely and deal with slides. But even if the aircraft could evacuate, it would be the job of the FAs to release the rafts/slides, as I imagine they will be among last to leave?

Anyway know if an aircraft gently glided and made a controlled ditching, there would a chance for survival? But how many such controlled crash landings are there?