A death toll of 100, believed to be mainly women and children, could still not be confirmed many hours after a British charter aircraft crashed near Basle Airport on Tuesday (April 10).

The aircraft, a four engined Viscount owned by Invicta Travel of London, plummeted down on its back, exploded and burst into flames after its wing tip struck a tree, according to one of the survivors.

Driving snow and thick fog hindered rescue operations. The flight was from bristol in the west of England. The passengers were on a one-day excursion to a trade fair in Basle. The plane's owners said there were 35 survivors out of 139 passengers and six crew. These figures had not been confirmed.

Most of the passengers were from three small English villages.

One of the survivors told reporters what had happened.: