Wales on the Web A flash movie looking back at the The Aberfan Disaster. Including Aberfan Town, Coal-Mining Disaster, Merthyr Vale, Pantglas Junior School, Coal Slurry, Hillside Tipping and more. Part of the largest collection of movies on any culture anywhere on the Web.
Wales on the Web The Aberfan Disaster - wales flash movie South Wales valley peoples had suffered many coal-mining disasters, explosions and roof falls, but none had the impact of Aberfan. This tragedy did not occur in underground blackness, but in the open air of a bright October day, an event whose horror would reverberate around the world. Aberfan village had grown around Merthyr Vale collieries whose high quality coal brought employment and prosperity. But millions of tons of waste would also be produced, some "packed" underground, the rest piled in surface heaps creating the archetypal coal-mining landscape. Valleys were narrow - as space ran out, tipping began on the steep hillsides above. The huge and growing slag tips above Aberfan posed a threat to those living below. Even before 1966 there had been concern over stability - some sections had moved and slumped, but the tipping continued. Tragically no one realised that hidden springs, increased by heavy rain, were steadily turning pit waste into soft, water-filled, slurry. Thursday October 20th had been especially wet with heavy rain driving over valley and hillside. Friday the 21st dawned dry and bright although mist lingered in the valley. Shortly after 9.00 a.m. the children of Pantglas Junior School left morning assembly, where they had sung "All things bright and beautiful", and entered their classrooms. At 9.15 the tip above burst open. No warning could be given - within seconds an avalanche of slurry had destroyed a cottage before pouring like a black tidal wave to engulf 20 houses and Pantglas School lying exactly in its path. 144 people would die within moments - 116 of them children - half the school's pupils and five of its teachers would be suffocated. One child survivor described the slurry's roar - they thought an aeroplane was crashing so their teacher told them to shelter under desks! As news spread men left local pits to join parents digging frantically in the solidifying black mud. Many more helpers arrived during the day but by mid-morning it became clear that this was no rescue, but a recovery of small bodies - all carefully washed clean and laid out on the pews of a nearby chapel. Yes, hillside tipping would be forbidden, and all such slag heaps cleared away but it was too late. Even today Aberfan is a special place - at 9.15 one fine morning a future generation was lost. Rows of graves mark the cemetery above where Pantglas School once stood - its site is now a memorial garden. Those who visit might ponder both the true cost of coal and why the disaster could not have happened just a little earlier?