I'm with you BOAC. This was an ILS approach to 35. There is no reason that approach wouldn't have resulted in a landing. Wx is 300 sct at 3octas. 1000 OVC, at least it was 20 mins later. If their on the ILS, they make it. Why circle? Too much tailwind? 35 is an uphill runway, with about 100 feet difference between the button of 35 and the other end. There's no calls either and theres another aircraft somewhere out waiting to try, or actually trying, the 17 approach. Just don't see the Boeing crew launching off toward them with no calling the missed and advising that they were circling. If they were circling, they have a 1000 ovc above, they are going to circle over the much lower terrain to the left.
I say ILS to 35, but the scenario which seems to explain is the one about flying the approach with the VOR frequency selected instead of the ILS. That wouldn't result in a landing. Exactly what happened would happen. It would have been flown as a localizer approach as no glideslope indication, the wreckage is right on track, and the wreckage trail looks to start very close to minimums for that approach.
Only other possibility is a dodgy ILS. It was notamed us after the crash, which posters say is normal after this type of thing, and then test flown. Now its off till approx Aug 31. As you'd want to have that up and running as quick as possible, 10 days seems like a lot of downtime, unless they can't get a flight calibration machine in.