"Is that not an escape slide?" - indeed, but when detached becomes a 'raft' as per drills.
"not that it has any relevance to why the accident happened. Or maybe it has.." - no - totally itrrelevant. This is a route licensing issue and has zero to do with this accident as far as I can see - a true 'red herring' which could even be 'political' trouble-making by another carrier.