slyguy
Unfortunately it seems this accident was non-survivable with or without PLBs
Aser - auto-deployable liferafts would be a very bad idea - the first malfunction causing them to deploy in flight would most likely bring the helicopter down. This is why there are no deployment handles inside the cabin - its on the outside just behind the cabin door.
Since there is a long cable going from the sponson to the cockpit handle, any deformation of the fuselage could easily pull on this cable and activate the liferaft inflation. If, as it seems, this impact was hard, that is probably why the liferafts inflated. There is no "upside down" - as Deltafree says, they are reversible.
bolkow
Although there have been some ditchings with everyone surviving (JSAR and REDU at least), I think this is the first catastrophic failure of the L2 on the N Sea. Bearing in mind its been in extensive use in the N Sea for 15+ years, it has a good, but not perfect, safety record. At this stage we have no idea of the cause - it could for example be a maintenance error, but far too early to know.
HC