Aberfan Disaster Section, Aberfan Cemetery, Merthyr Vale 6 June 2016
The ultimate price of coal. Families have always worried about husbands, sons, siblings toiling underground to extract coal; always feared that its price would be demanded from the unforgiving seams . No one expected however, the terrible price that was exacted on that morning of 21 October 1966 when the Pantglas School was suddenly and terribly engulfed by a wall of liquid slurry from a collapsed slag heap. Tragically, the children were filing out from morning assembly; had the collapse occurred several minutes later, the loss of life would have been significantly reduced since they would have been dispersed to their classrooms which did not bear the full brunt. One hundred and forty four persons lost their lives, one hundred and sixteen of them primary school children.
This section of Aberfan Cemetery is dedicated to these victims of coal, with marble arches and their graves, many subsequently added to by family members over the years. By 2007, stones had begun to deteriorate, and funding to refurbish the area was provided by the Aberfan Memorial Charity, work being completed in 2009.
A contribution by the Witwatersrand Cambrian Society.
Aberfan Disaster Section, Aberfan Cemetery, Merthyr Vale 6 June 2016
The ultimate price of coal. Families have always worried about husbands, sons, siblings toiling underground to extract coal; always feared that its price would be demanded from the unforgiving seams . No one expected however, the terrible price that was exacted on that morning of 21 October 1966 when the Pantglas School was suddenly and terribly engulfed by a wall of liquid slurry from a collapsed slag heap. Tragically, the children were filing out from morning assembly; had the collapse occurred several minutes later, the loss of life would have been significantly reduced since they would have been dispersed to their classrooms which did not bear the full brunt. One hundred and forty four persons lost their lives, one hundred and sixteen of them primary school children.
This section of Aberfan Cemetery is dedicated to these victims of coal, with marble arches and their graves, many subsequently added to by family members over the years. By 2007, stones had begun to deteriorate, and funding to refurbish the area was provided by the Aberfan Memorial Charity, work being completed in 2009.
A contribution by the Witwatersrand Cambrian Society.