Engines have died due this problem.
I did several searches and could not find an incident where a person died as the result of an overheated air cooled VW or Porsche engine. Maybe I conducted lame searches.
If an engine compartment got excessively hot and the fuel filter melted that could mean a fire and maybe a driver or passenger couldn't get out and died. I tried that search too. Bupkus, nada, nothing, zip, zero.
Perhaps you could provide an example of this happening?