Exactly, wasn't the wreckage cut to retrieve the bodies? And later to be pulled to the surface ?
Anyway what's the point in discussing if the floats stayed on, if the crash was not survivable, those are there to safely abandon the machine in event of emergency landing, not really to have a neatly floating wreckage.
It reminds me of a discussion after a crash that took place in 90's on the Baltic Sea, where W-3RM had CFIT accident, where it hit the water at cruise speed in the night, and the emergency floats were ripped off the fuselage. What would be the point of them being so sturdy to stay on, if the fuselage disintegrated, and the crew bodies were thrown out of it at impact ?