I am a retired senior crew member & can fully understand all the comments regards passengers taking their belongings with them in an emergency evacuation. However, I think we should consider the culture of passengers from this region where the aircraft was flying. I operated many flights from the area & there was always an issue with cabin baggage. When all the overhead bins were full in one cabin we would utilise bins that were less full in other cabins. The culture of passengers in this region made them totally averse to handing you their bag for safe keeping unless it was stowed in the locker above their seat. so I'm not at all surprised passengers were trying to remove items from the overhead bins in an emergency. Also my airline introduced a new initiative to speed up boarding where a second yellow tagged bag was allowed to be put under the seat in front of you. We all know what happens to loose items in the cabin & bags in the overhead bins when they open in an emergency.
Furthermore, passengers from all regions rarely consider others welfare or safety.
This is a Pilot's rumour network so I would like to say thank you to all ppruners who have recognised the great job by the cabin crew, a completely successful evacuation.