John,
....and touchdown speed was? Rate of Descent at touchdown?
Please to recall this was at night in Afghanistan at a fair ol' height in the middle of no where.
The ditch just put the icing on the cake....
I will accept the ditch made for the final mechanism that caused the deaths, injuries, and write off of the aircraft.
I will not accept that the event would have played out much differently absent the ditch.
Just as we do not for sure what the engines were doing...Other outcomes can only be surmised....and not guaranteed.