When I started two-crew EMS my training captains were a couple of old offshore guys, and they preached exactly the profile Crab et al refer to: from a stable hover, pull power, hold heading, and then pitch attitude followed by level attitude until you have airspeed and are climbing away at Vmini/Vy. Pulling from the ground always gave me the heebie jeebies for a dynamic rollover or unstable hover, though I know some 139 guys do it now offshore.
When it's dark out it doesn't much matter what the visibility is, may as well be zero. Still, this situation looks like it would have been a real challenge, even for a trained and experienced 0/0 crew. Too many obstacles too close.