21.10.1966

[mex]

At 9.15 am on Friday, October 21, 1966, a waste tip above the mining village of Aberfan began to slide down the mountainside, firstly destroying a farm cottage and killing all its occupants. It then approached Pantglas Junior School, where the children had only just returned to their classes after singing All Things Bright and Beautiful at their morning assembly. The slide then engulfed the school and about 20 houses in the village, killing 144 people, including 116 school children.
Workers up in the mountain had seen the slide start, but could not raise the alarm because their telephone cable had been stolen and down in the village, everybody heard the noise, but could see nothing, because of thick fog.
News of the tragedy travelled fast and hundreds of people stopped what they were doing and headed to Aberfan to try and help with the rescue. It was futile, as nobody was rescued alive after 11am and it was nearly a week before all the bodies were recovered.
On Mynydd Merthyr, directly above Aberfan, several tips containing millions of cubic metres of mining debris from the Merthyr Vale Colliery had been deposited over the years, onto highly porous sandstone that contained numerous underground springs. The NCB's area management had been made aware of the concerns regarding the tipping of spoil above the primary school, but these were largely ignored. In the days leading up to the disaster, there had been substantial bursts of heavy rain, which had caused 3–6 metres of subsidence on one of the tips. This then led to more than 150,000 cubic metres of debris breaking away and flowing downhill at high speed.

 

[Pete E]

Thank you for posting...It was a terrible, terrible tragedy that deserves never to be forgotten...

 

[Sky]

That's something I'll never forget and I can't believe it was that long ago.

Our primary school teacher had us stand for a minute's silence every day for a week after that and had us do drawings and paintings of how we'd imagined it to be.

So terribly sad and unnecessary.

 

[JohnC6]

I remember this too. Terrible news.

As Nige says the NCB were made aware of the dangers. I've always wondered why management ..in any industry..don't heed the warning voices. Cost, I suppose An inquiry a year later concluded that the NCB were solely responsible but no-one was prosecuted.

A copy/paste:

It wasn’t until almost a year later that the investigations into the disaster were concluded. The final report says that it took a ‘strong and unanimous view that the Aberfan disaster could and should have been prevented.’

It concluded that through ignorance and lack of attention to detail, various signs were missed which would have resulted in better management and would have prevented the enormous loss of life. However, the National Coal Board was not prosecuted and no one who worked there was sacked or prosecuted. The NCB offered each family who had lost a child £50 (around £950 in today’s money), which was considered an insulting offer. It was eventually raised to £500 (around £9,500), which was still regarded to be insufficient given the horrors that the NCB’s negligence inflicted.

Even more astonishingly, some of the money raised to donate to the town and the bereaved families was used to clean up the remainder of the lethal tip site, rather than the NCB being forced to bear the cost.

 

[mex]

That's something I'll never forget and I can't believe it was that long ago.

Our primary school teacher had us stand for a minute's silence every day for a week after that and had us do drawings and paintings of how we'd imagined it to be.

So terribly sad and unnecessary.

Same at our school too.

 

[mex]

I remember this too. Terrible news.

As Nige says the NCB were made aware of the dangers. I've always wondered why management ..in any industry..don't heed the warning voices. Cost, I suppose An inquiry a year later concluded that the NCB were solely responsible but no-one was prosecuted.

A copy/paste:

It wasn’t until almost a year later that the investigations into the disaster were concluded. The final report says that it took a ‘strong and unanimous view that the Aberfan disaster could and should have been prevented.’

It concluded that through ignorance and lack of attention to detail, various signs were missed which would have resulted in better management and would have prevented the enormous loss of life. However, the National Coal Board was not prosecuted and no one who worked there was sacked or prosecuted. The NCB offered each family who had lost a child £50 (around £950 in today’s money), which was considered an insulting offer. It was eventually raised to £500 (around £9,500), which was still regarded to be insufficient given the horrors that the NCB’s negligence inflicted.

Even more astonishingly, some of the money raised to donate to the town and the bereaved families was used to clean up the remainder of the lethal tip site, rather than the NCB being forced to bear the cost.

There was a massive attempt to sweep the whole tragedy under the carpet.

"In the wake of the tragedy, the mayor set up the Aberfan Disaster Fund to help bereaved families. Two years later, after donations flooded in from across the world, the Government disgracefully plundered £150,000 from the pot to fund the removal of six remaining tips that cast their shadow over the village.


In 1997, Mr Blair's Labour Government admitted the blunder and paid back the money. But they took no account of inflation nor interest and rather than fork out the sum in real terms - £1.5m in today's money - they stumped up just £150,000."

 

[JohnC6]

There was a massive attempt to sweep the whole tragedy under the carpet.

"In the wake of the tragedy, the mayor set up the Aberfan Disaster Fund to help bereaved families. Two years later, after donations flooded in from across the world, the Government disgracefully plundered £150,000 from the pot to fund the removal of six remaining tips that cast their shadow over the village.


In 1997, Mr Blair's Labour Government admitted the blunder and paid back the money. But they took no account of inflation nor interest and rather than fork out the sum in real terms - £1.5m in today's money - they stumped up just £150,000."

That surprises me re Blair especially in relation to a Welsh mining community.

 

[tonybassplayer]

I must have been 7 years old but remember this tragedy so so vividly.

The last series of “The Crown” had a full episode based around this and it was very moving.

Lessons learned I guess but far too late for those children.

 

[RWDW]

What and absolutely awful and avoidable disaster!

I only watched this the other night:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPjD4QHYCuA


It clearly puts the blame at the very top of the NCB who was actually a previous union leader put in place to try and stop strikes by the NUM due to the unavoidable closeures of pits and the then labour Govt headed by Wilson that makes what is going on today 'pale into insignificance'

An absolutely terrible time for a community - it really never should be forgotten.

 

[reheat module]

I was 7yrs old at the time and watched the news with my mum.
Not at all shamed to say I cried.