BER NOOLY, sadly your question is "childlike" in that if you had experience of the weather radar you would know the answer to your question is impossible given the variables in play. I am not being rude just explaining why people get frustrated with some posters.
The EGPWS is the virtual world.
The RADAR is the real world,
but as you quite correctly state there are errors that can be made in setting it up to give accurate information that you may need at that particular time. Crews such as SAR are well practiced in such techniques and scenarios. There is nothing to suggest this crew did anything wrong with the radar, but it is possible to set it up so badly that the picture it provides does not give the information you may need. It is also possible, with severe sea conditions, that sea clutter can obscure the targets in play ahead of you. Again this crew would certainly know that.
Many of us understand these issues very well and thus can see no merit in trying to decode what and what did not take place in that cockpit.
Don't take your bat home but just recognise that some issues seem black and white but in reality they are much more complex.
We have to wait for the real situation that will hopefully be presented by the recorded data on the FDR/CVR. In the meantime the desktop assessments count for f***k all.