This is a tragic story, but if they were on a boat, why wasn’t she wearing a PFD?
Did you read the excerpt? She was exiting the boat at the dock. Most people doff their PFDs before leaving the boat.
Even with a PDF she probably would have drown. The PDF would never have supported the woman and the chair, assuming she was strapped in. Also, I have never seen anyone wearing a PDF getting on and off a pontoon or larger boat. Point taken though, she was at risk and something was likely better than nothing.
That would have been some PFD to keep a wheelchair up and it sounds like she was in some way strapped in.
Maybe she was, but that’s not going to do any good if you are strapped into a heavy wheelchair.
They were docked and exiting the boat though, so they may have thought they were safe and already taken them off anyway.