Of course they shouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place and yes they were ‘lucky’. But there is the ‘luck’ of a coin toss and there’s the ‘luck’ of lotto numbers. Why did you choose “more than likely” as the probabilities of a crash rather than arrival?
A VFR stuck on top is stuck on top. A plan to arrive at an aerodrome that looks like it’s surrounded by very flat terrain, using all available technology, seems better than waiting for fuel exhaustion, trimming for best glide and hoping.
(Alpha has noted a technical difference - thanks.)