Do destroyed containers drop their loot?

Upon destroying a container with items in it, it will leave a backpack on the ground. This backpack can be moved by running into it, and it does despawn after about a minute. I've tested this in my game using a sink that contained some loot. There is also a small Steam post of someone who experienced the same thing as you. It appears that you've lost all of your items unfortunately.

backpack

backpack gone