Other than the rapidly unwinding altimeter, how do you recognize the stall when your aircraft adopts a relatively stable 16 degree nose up attitude. Is the unwinding altimeter real? (Well, yes, in this case.) Stall warning-its silent. Airspeed- nothing there indicated.
Ok, so let's assume the altimeter isn't real. But then to what perceived situation 16 deg pitch up / TOGA would have been a reasonable response?
As uncomfortable as the though may be, one explanation is that they may just have reacted to a stall like countless poorly trained/caught off guard/panicked pilots before them? Their plane in any case seems to have reacted like planes have been doing for over 100 years, FBW or not, and crashed accordingly.