New York Times April 20, 1973

Women from this and six other communities nestling in the Mendip Hills of southwest England died on a charter flight to Switzerland that the tourist brochure described as a journey to “the fairy tale country for the day of your dreams.” They were headed for a Swiss spring fair.

A total of 107 persons were killed when their plane struck a mountainside near Basel in a snowstorm. Sixtythree of the dead came from Somerset communities.

As townspeople gathered in Axbridge square and at the 12th‐century Church of St. John the Baptist, concern was voiced for the 48 schoolchildren of the villages left motherless by the disaster.

“This is our saddest day,” the Rev. Anthony Martin said during the funeral service. “A small and closely knit community has suffered a devastating blow.”

Axbridge, a community of 900, lost 13 in the disaster. Three coffins came from nearby Cheddar, which lost 17.

Among those buried here were Marie Mayled and her two married daughters.

The church had room for 400 mourners. Several hundred stood outside listening to the service on loudspeakers.