The Tragedy of Aberfan: The Completely Avoidable Death of 116 children and 28 adults.
Updated: Oct 21, 2024
A tragic event that shocked people worldwide took place in the South Wales village of Aberfan. On that fateful day, millions of cubic metres of mining waste cascaded down a hill, burying a farm, multiple houses, and Pantglas Junior school, resulting in the death of 116 children.
During that period, large chunks of coal were essential for household heating, leading to the disposal of waste and tailings, which are the fine particles remaining after washing, onto rail trams for dumping. Each mining town had its own waste disposal sites, creating a rugged South Wales terrain filled with them. Over the years, this waste had accumulated significantly above Aberfan. The tips were notorious for sliding but there was particular concern about Aberfan’s Tip Number Seven which was started in 1958 and by 1966 amounted to 230,000 cubic metres of waste rising 111ft (34m).
In the previous year two mothers had presented a petition to the school's head teacher Ann Jennings about flooding concerns caused by Tip Number Seven. Mrs Jennings took the petition to the local council but no action was taken.
It was later found that the pile of coal waste was situated on porous sandstone that was crisscrossed with streams and underground springs.
At 9.15am on a foggy October 21, 20ft of material from Tip Number Seven, swollen by heavy rain, became dislodged, starting a landslide of slurry and debris that thundered down the hillside. Below, excited children had congregated for morning assembly at their school knowing the half-term holiday would begin at midday. Their daily rendition of All Things Bright and Beautiful – a hymn written just a few miles away – was postponed because Mrs Jennings had decided they would sing it before they went home when she planned to wish her pupils a safe and enjoyable holiday. Just before 9.15am they heard a strange rumbling noise. One teacher said it was probably thunder. In fact a 30ft wave of coal, mud and water was heading for the school. Already it had engulfed a farm cottage in its path, killing all the occupants.
Survivor Gaynor Minett, an eight-year-old at the school, remembered four years later:
"It was a tremendous rumbling sound and all the school went dead. You could hear a pin drop. Everyone was petrified, afraid to move. Everyone just froze in their seats. "I just managed to get up and I reached the end of my desk when the sound got louder and nearer, until I could see the black out of the window. I can't remember any more but I woke up to find that a horrible nightmare had just begun in front of my eyes."
The slurry had piled up 25 feet (7.6m) against the school, smashing its way through the building, filling the classrooms. Hours later, one of the first journalists on the scene was a reporter from the local Merthyr Express. He wrote:
"Men, women and children were tearing away the debris in an effort to reach the trapped children. As the men shovelled debris from spade to spade, children’s books appeared. An odd cap was seen. A broken doll. "Mothers gathered around the school steps, some weeping, some silent, some shaking their heads in disbelief.
"Teams of men and boys worked in long rows from the school building, handing buckets of slurry from the classrooms."
By the next day, the Merthyr Express reported, on each side of the school mechanical shovels and bulldozers gouged the debris out. An endless line of lorries carried it away.
The report continued: "At regular intervals everything would come to a halt – the roar of heavy machinery, the shouts, the scraping of shovels. Not a murmur would be heard among the thousand workers. Time stood still. And rescuers listened tensely for the slightest sound from the wreckage – for a cry, a moan, a movement – anything which would give hope to the mothers and fathers."
There was a strong desire among many to take action. Scores of individuals from neighboring villages rushed to Aberfan to assist in the rescue efforts. However, their efforts proved to be ineffective as the untrained volunteers hindered the work of the professional rescue teams.
Unfortunately, no survivors were found after 11am on the day of the tragedy, and it took almost a week to retrieve all the bodies.
They included the head teacher Mrs Jennings and her deputy, David Beynon. "He was clutching five children in his arms as if he had been protecting them," a rescuer said. Just 25 pupils at Pantglas survived. The final death toll came to 116 children and 28 adults, including five teachers.
Prior Warnings and Negligence
Long before the disaster, the villagers of Aberfan had raised concerns about the spoil tips. Tip Number 7, the one that collapsed, was precariously located on a mountainside above the village, resting atop natural springs. The National Coal Board (NCB), which was responsible for the site, had been repeatedly warned about the potential danger. Villagers, teachers, and even local councillors expressed fears that the tip could slide, especially in wet conditions. However, these warnings were largely ignored, with the NCB dismissing the likelihood of any imminent danger.
In the weeks leading up to the disaster, heavy rains had saturated the spoil tip, exacerbating the risk of collapse. Despite the visible signs of instability, the NCB took no preventive action, leading directly to the catastrophe.
The Aftermath and Governmental Response
In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the local community, aided by volunteers from across the UK, launched a desperate rescue operation, but the authorities’ response was marked by delays and confusion. The slowness of the official rescue efforts only added to the sense that the villagers had been abandoned in their darkest hour.
The tribunal that followed—chaired by Lord Justice Edmund Davies—made it clear that the NCB was directly responsible for the disaster. The report condemned the NCB's behaviour as one of "bungling ineptitude" and highlighted the fact that the disaster could have been avoided had the NCB acted on the warnings it had received. Despite this, the authorities failed to bring anyone from the NCB to justice. No one was prosecuted, and no one resigned from their positions within the Board. Lord Robens, the chairman of the NCB at the time, was heavily criticised for his handling of the situation, particularly after it was revealed that he had initially downplayed the risk of spoil tips. Nevertheless, he retained his position and suffered no significant consequences.
The Fund Controversy
One of the most bitter betrayals experienced by the community came in the form of the Aberfan Disaster Fund. In the wake of the tragedy, people from all over the UK and beyond donated generously to support the bereaved families and rebuild the village. The fund quickly amassed £1.75 million (around £30 million in today’s terms). However, rather than being fully distributed to the victims, the authorities, including the NCB and the government, made decisions that further angered the community.
In an extraordinary move, the NCB demanded that £150,000 from the disaster fund be used to help pay for the removal of the remaining spoil tips, which loomed ominously above the village even after the disaster. The decision to use charitable donations, rather than public funds, for this purpose was seen as deeply unjust. It was only many years later, after sustained pressure, that this money was returned to the fund. Still, the episode left a lasting mark of resentment.
Additionally, when distributing money to the bereaved families, authorities tried to restrict the payments, with an assessment made on how much compensation each family should receive for the loss of a child. The fund's trustees initially decided that families should receive varying amounts based on their perceived 'loss,' a decision that dehumanised the tragedy further. Public outcry eventually led to the families receiving fixed payments, but this process left deep scars in the village.
Decades of Neglect
After the immediate shock of the disaster faded, the people of Aberfan continued to feel let down by the authorities. For years, successive governments failed to fully acknowledge the emotional and psychological impact of the disaster on the survivors and the broader community. It wasn’t until 1997, over 30 years after the disaster, that the British government formally apologised for its role in the handling of the disaster and the fund controversy. This was a long-overdue recognition of the failures of the state at multiple levels, from the NCB to the government itself.
For many in Aberfan, the neglect by the authorities has compounded the grief they have carried since that terrible day in 1966. The disaster was not just a tragic accident but a failure of those in power to protect a vulnerable community, even when the dangers were well-known. The scars of that neglect remain to this day.
At the time of the disaster, there were about 100,000 miners in south Wales, an area which relied heavily on the coal and steel industries. Today there are just a few hundred miners left.
Most of the pits – like Merthyr Vale colliery, which produced the Aberfan slag heap – have been "landscaped". One has been turned into a museum. The location of Pantglas Junior school has been transformed into a memorial garden, adorned with meticulously preserved white arches, symbolising each of the 116 children who lost their lives in the avalanche and were laid to rest in a communal grave on this site.
Sources
1. BBC News. (2016). Aberfan disaster: The mistakes and the failures. Retrieved from BBC News
2. The Guardian. (2016). Aberfan disaster: A generation lost. Retrieved from The Guardian
3. National Archives. (2016). Aberfan: Government and the tragedy. Retrieved from National Archives
4. History.com. (2019). The Aberfan Disaster: What Happened Next. Retrieved from History.com
Comments