For years, the people of Aberfan had said the heaps were dangerous.  The Coal Board was asked repeatedly to remove them.

How the survivors and relatives were treated by the authorities afterwards was nothing short of disgraceful.

We, the people of Wales, will NEVER, EVER forget that dreadful day. I was 10 when it happened, I remember it being announced in school, terrible, just terrible, just about an entire generation was wiped out. Men from all over went to help dig out the children and others, some just using their bare hands.

Aberfan,  if you were in the United Kingdom and old enough to realise what was happening in 1966, the horrific vision of what happened will live with you for the rest of your life. My first baby had been born in 1965, and I sat and watched this nightmare, clutching my baby boy, and weeping in sorrow for all the parents of those small children, knowing how lucky I was to be able to hug him. They had waved goodbye to their sons and daughters as they went off to school only never to see them again. The whole of the Uk wept with them. 😢

Sadly some of the men  could never open up and talk about it .  They must have suffered greatly.

I live in Aberfan now and was just over 3 years old when this happened so I was still too young to go to school then. I was a bit too young to remember that day but I remember my mother constantly crying. My Father came home at around 5pm, his hands dirty and covered in bloody scars where he had been trying to dig and reach someone with his bare hands but was too late to save them. He saw me, picked me up and wouldn't let me go for all the time he stayed, then he went back out to keep digging. My wife's uncle was a survivor only for the fact he had been naughty and was sent to wait outside the headmaster's room. Only a handful of children in the classroom survived because they were sat in the corners. I still visit the graves in the cemetery each year and there is a leisure centre built in the place the old school used to be. A new school was built there in 2012 and it was opened by the Queen. My Granddaughter now attends that school.

So many children lost . Here in England we will not forget the loss to the Welsh community. Those children and Adults that died . Lost but never forget ♥️😢😢😢😢😢😢

😢 You did your reaction with so much empathy, Ryan.
It was comforting while watching this sad desaster.
Thank you.🙏

I was an eight year old living in a mining town in England when this happened.
BBC radio did a superb documentary for the 50th anniversary of the disaster - the item that shocked me the most, was the story of the Methodist minister in Aberfan.
He conducted the funeral services for so many of the adults and children who died that day. The final service was for his own son.
I cannot begin to understand how he managed that.

I can still remember my mum (she was Welsh) crying uncontrollably when she heard the news. All I could hear saying between her sobs was, “Oh! Those children. Those poor children.”
It was indeed a very sad day.

Big respect to you Ryan for being able to sit through this video and commentate on it. You thought it was going to be about coal miners not school children. I was 6 years old when this happened and it was the first disaster I can remember seeing on tv. It affected me greatly as I was a similar age to the children that lost their lives. Even now it affects me when I read about it. I’m a grandmother now and I have lived a life that those children never got to have. The trauma that the survivors and the rest of the town went through must be indescribable. No therapy or talking through feelings back then. 21/10/2026 will be the 60th anniversary of the disaster. All of it avoidable. RIP to the 116 children and 48 adults that perished that day 💔

Hey Ryan. I'm Welsh and live in Wales. There's a full documentary on this. It's part of our history. The miners warned the company that there was streams developing under the surface for many months. Then with so much rain that feel over the weeks it eventually collapsed. Just a note,
The 'f' in Welsh is pronounced as a 'v' so it sounds like Abervan.

I was 8 years old when this happened and lived 20 miles from Aberfan. I still vividly remember seeig men running down the street to get on buses to go to Aberfan to help with the  rescue. At 8 years old I couldn’t understand what was happening all I knew that my mother was crying and I didn’t know why.  116 children and 28 adults were killed that day a day that will never be forgotten in the South Wales Valleys. The cemetery is eerily beautiful and so very peaceful.

I remember watching rescue  live on TV. The news reporter was in tears. There have been other disasters but none where so many small children died.

Ik was twaalf jaar toen dit gebeurde. Het Nederlandse journaal berichten hierover. Een dag later werd hier veel over gepraat. Het was ook voor de rest van Europa een schok.

Just the name of this disaster evokes many emotions for us, even for those who weren't even alive then. Heartbreaking loss for our country 💔🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🖤 You should definitely look into the Dunblane Massacre. May help you understand why so many Brits just cannot fathom the US obsession with firearms.

Even now at 67 it brings tears to my eyes and a heavy heart. In my humble opinion it should never be forgotten 🎉

I still remember that day.  It was never off the news, every so often a programme interrupted to say how many more children, and teacher, had been dug out.  It was heartbreaking then and it's making me cry now.

And lets not forget generational trauma,  pain and loss can trickle down , may they all be at peace .

I've literally driven passed this site 15 minutes before watching this video. I live nearby. The mountains  you mentioned are the Brecon Beacons, well known in the UK.