The accident was not 'inevitable' due to the low altitude.
If they had reacted (been able to react) to the incipient stall timely, an incipient stall would probably have been recoverable from this altitude.
A developed one: Rather not.
Therefore my comment regarding the speed decrease with which they approached Alpha_Floor.
Once they noticed that something went wrong they got into even deeper trouble by the (Mis-) Trim and sudden Thrust induced Pitch up.
Without enough altitude the chances of recovery in that situation were surely slim.
I wouldn't rule out that a very proficient test pilot would have been able to recover from that situation but probably not normal airline pilots. It's simply not what they are trained/supposed to do.
They have been in deepest test pilot country and at an altitude where even those would have never performed these maneuvers.
Result: predictable