Currently? Not true. Tents disappear all the time, containers eat items, containers disappear. And lets not forget random deaths! Items get drained out of this world pretty aggressively. I think you underestimate how quickly.
This happened to a friend of mine as well. I hope this bug report gets escalated because it's very disconcerting to snag some impressive gear then have it disappear
The *Exact* same thing happened to me on US 1220. Spawn in remote location, immediate broken leg/death message. Teleported to empty plains. Disconnect/reconnect and I am stripped of everything and at the beach.