Yes, and in particular it seems likely that the pilots could have stopped the automatic down trim by either invoking two trim cutout switches, and/or manually h

Yes, and in particular it seems likely that the pilots could have stopped the automatic down trim by either invoking two trim cutout switches, and/or manually holding/turning back the trim wheel. But it appears they a) had many other things to deal with, and b) did not expect this particular failure mode, so did not recognise it. Terrible.