We are nibbling at the edges here:-
It is being implicitly assumed (unproven) that the pilots were being 'vectored'.
I believe these pilots did NOT need MVA or any other trigraph except MSA/SSA which I assume is on the charts?
What possible use is MVA (or MEA) if you are not under radar control?
I'm still slightly puzzled by the speeds shown on Annex14's link and the rates of descent.