I don't know how the airline training is at fault when an airline pilot can't recognize and recover from a low and slow situation.
Flying aeroplanes is like bringing up kids. You have to train them, then let them consolidate, then practice. If they don't get any of those, they will burn themselves on the toaster, never get their algebra right, scare or kill themselves crossing the road. Post after post after post on Prune about the lack of training and on-going experience in visual approaches in some airlines show that at least one of those requirements are not being met by some operators.
You hit the nail on the head when you said:
The rest (meaning Vis Apps) were on the line.
Don't get me wrong, I think the whole thing is appalling but until the Children of the Magenta running these outfits see sense and actively allow training in manual/raw data/handflying, in the SIM if necessary, we'll see more of these types of prangs. As for the possible banning of visual approaches, companies can run but they cannot hide. The wheels will fall off eventually and people will get hurt.