Disaster In Aberfan. At quarter past nine this morning 50 years to the moment silence fell over aberfan as the village remembered the disaster that claimed the lives of 116. In 1966 300 000 cubic yards of coal sludge buried a welsh primary school and 19 houses in aberfan wales.
In the south wales coal mining village of aberfan students at the pantglas junior school had just began their day s lessons after singing the hymn all things bright and beautiful as they did on every other school day before it. What began as a typical morning escalated quickly into. At around quarter past nine on the morning of friday 21 october 1966 disaster struck the coal mining village of aberfan in south wales.
Today marks the 54th anniversary of the aberfan disaster.
The tip had been created on a mountain slope above the village of aberfan near merthyr tydfil and overlaid a natural spring a period of heavy rain led to a build up of water within the tip which caused it to suddenly slide downhill as a slurry killing 116 children and 28 adults as it. It was one of the united kingdom s worst tragedies and it was a man made disaster. At 9 13am on the 21st of october 1966 disaster struck the south wales village of aberfan when 150 000 tonnes of coal waste slid down a. The aberfan disaster was the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip in wales on 21 october 1966.
