A German news agency (Sueddeutsche Zeitung Newsticker) is reporting that the crew might have actually violated aviation rules by cancelling IFR flight plan and changing to VFR for a destination without VMC.
Flying VFR under IMC is a basic tenet that I was constantly reminded of when I started my PPL training. It is hard to believe that some pilots out there put their lives at risk by not observing this simple rule.
WP