examination of the jackets will tell.....if they are shredded I think we know the answer...if no marking or damage then maybe they never had time to put them on.Most only wait for storms to come up before donning.
I saw a twitter clip of the seas at the approximate time these kids were out there and it wasn’t pretty...if they lost power and were screwing with the engine a swell could have flipped them and it was over after that.
We spent 30 years fishing in Galveston Bay and off shore in the Gulf. It can change very quickly. We didn’t wear our life jackets all the time, looking back on it. We never got out of the sight of land when we had a 21 ft boat, but when we had a 42 foot boat we fished a 100 miles off shore and even spent the night out there. Great fishing memories.