All this nonsense about reciprocal approaches and the like is a waste of time. As a professional pilot I am expected to be able to fly somewhere for the first time and not crash. I do not need to have been before or to have approached on the other runway. It does not matter how far the NDB is from the runway.
This crew either had a technical problem or they made a dirty dart, either blind or with SOMETHING in sight which was not the runway, and encountered rising ground which they could not outclimb.
Thank heavens the 'KGB assassination' posts appear to have died down.