60 years on: The Aberfan disaster through the eyes of those who survived

A composite image of the disaster site and people affected. They are all black and white photos and include an aerial view of the submerged school and individual photos of young children. Image source, Getty Images/ Family photos

ByTony BrownBBC Wales and Huw ThomasWales business correspondent

Few events have left a deeper mark on Wales than the Aberfan disaster.

Sixty years on, the tragedy remains woven into the nation's collective memory, a day of unimaginable loss that reshaped a community and changed attitudes to industrial safety across Britain.

At 09:15 on 21 October 1966, an ordinary school morning was shattered when a coal tip above Aberfan collapsed.

Black and white picture shows the mud and devastation caused at Pantglas Junior School on 21st October 1966. A row of men pull a rope, with the submerged school with a collapsed roof in the background. Crowds are gathered around the scene. — Image caption,
144 people died following the Aberfan landslide in October 1966

Black slurry thundered down the mountainside, engulfing Pantglas Junior School and nearby homes. Within moments, 144 people were dead, including 116 children, on what was the last day of school before the half-term holiday.

On the 60th anniversary, those who were there share their harrowing memories.

Teacher Mair Morgan was 25

A black and white photo of Mair, a woman in glasses with short brown hair and pointed glasses, and a colour photo of the same woman 60 years later with short white hair and glasses. — Image caption,
Mair was a 25-year-old teacher and had worked at Pantglas School for a year

"What I remember was the drizzly rain, it was misty. I rang the bell to start school at about ten to nine, before the children went in.

There was this terrible noise, and I looked out of the window. I could see a wall had collapsed and realised I had to get my pupils outside.

As we escaped, I saw the caretaker rushing to get other children out.

They opened Bethania Chapel to take children who had died, but the first bodies were placed in a shelter in the playground.

We identified them before they were cleaned up, and before their parents were told.

I found that very hard. I remember one little girl, I can see her face now.

She had beautiful black curly hair."

Gareth Jones, six, was one of the first rescued

A composite image. The first black and white photo is of a little boy standing in the doorway with his dad's arm around him. In the second photo is Gareth as a grown man with glasses and short white hair, wearing a suit with a black tie.

"There was this really unusual sound, like a rumble. Like if you chuck stones across the floor, but it was getting louder and louder.

Next thing, water was seeping through the floor, the walls were cracking and timbers were breaking.

The teacher put a desk on a table, and a small chair on top of that. She climbed on top and smashed the window.

And then she held us up, probably by the scruffs of our necks, to get us out through it.

I am so grateful for her quick thinking, she saved our lives.

When I got outside, I could see a mountain of coal and slurry, with dust and water everywhere.

I ran home, and remember saying: 'Mam, mam, the mountain came down to the school'."

Gaynor Madgwick was eight and lost her siblings

A little girl with a short bob smiles at the camera in a black and white photo. On the right is a colour image of Gaynor as an adult, with long blonde hair and glasses. — Image caption,
Gaynor Madgwick was eight and went to school that day with her brother Carl, seven, and sister Marylyn, 10

"I heard this tremendous sound, like a hurricane. It was so overwhelming, I knew something was coming, but didn't know what.

Then this mass of black came crashing through the window, hurling me from the front of the classroom to the back.

I woke up to find the classroom was no longer the classroom. The roof had caved in on us, and we were completely buried.

I couldn't see my legs, I thought they had gone.

A pupil in front of me was trapped, and he had blood trickling down his head. Another one was trying to get through the roof to get help.

My head was cut open, and I couldn't move my hand as it was stuck in the cracked wall.

I pinched the hand of a child near me to see if it would move. It didn't.

Then I heard someone shout 'I'm going to smash the window' and saw my grandfather.

I started to cry and will never forget the look in his eyes knowing I was alive.

I'd broken my femur, my leg was just swinging and my shoes had gone.

'I'll buy you all the shoes you need,' my mum said as she greeted me outside.

My parents then ran off to find my siblings.

I was later told Carl and Marylyn had died, and all my friends had gone as well.

My life changed forever."

Jeff Edwards was eight and rescued last

Figure caption,

Jeff Edwards: 'The rumbling sound got louder and louder'

"As the teacher spoke by the blackboard, there was a rumbling sound that got louder and louder.

The lights started to sway back and fore, but the teacher reassured us there was nothing to worry about. It was only thunder.

The next thing I remember was waking up and seeing light from the sky because the roof had come in.

I was stuck but awake and could see a dead girl on my shoulder.

There was screaming, shouting and crying, but this got less and less.

A little boy with white hair wears a jumper, shirt and tie in the first black and white photo. Next to it is a colour photo of Jeff with white hair and glasses in a blue and white check shirt. — Image caption,
Jeff Edwards was the last child to be pulled out alive

This was because the children were dying of physical trauma, the roof and slurry coming in, or they couldn't breathe, they had no air.

I was lucky because I had this balloon of air around me.

The fire service broke through the window from the hall, and somebody saw my white hair.

They started digging and eventually they got me out, passing me in a chain from one fireman to another.

I got out just after 11, and was the last child to come out alive.

Tom Harding, the local grocer, threw me in his van with the cabbages and the carrots, and took me to St Tydfil's Hospital."

David Davies was presumed dead

A little boy runs on grass in a woollen sweater in the first black and white photo. On the right, David is an adult and wears a suit with a colourful tie, holding a pen. — Image caption,
David Davies was presumed dead and placed with other bodies before somebody noticed his foot moving

"I was at my desk, quite close to the western side of the school that took the fullest impact.

Almost immediately I was engulfed with debris and falling masonry, which knocked me unconscious.

I'm told I was brought out and placed with the deceased bodies and covered with a blanket.

Then someone thought they saw my foot move.

The doctor re-examined me.

I was evidently still alive and taken to hospital."

Janett Bickley almost stayed at home

A black and white photo of a woman with brown hair smiling. On the right, Janett, now an adult, has short blonde hair and wears a red dress with a gold necklace.

"After having pneumonia, I almost stayed at home - but was determined to go in for the last day.

I looked out of the window towards the tip and told my teacher I could see smoke.

He said it was just steam from the canteen, which I thought was odd, because there was no canteen in the infants' school - that was in the senior school.

But it was coming closer and closer.

I put my head on the desk with my book over it - I don't know why, it was just instinct.

The next thing I knew, I woke up and I was under coal, soil and muck.

When I tried to breathe, I just sucked water in, and I had coal waste over my face.

There was lots of crying and screaming, then it went black again.

When I woke up, there was silence, nobody crying, and the little boy next to me was dead.

One of my classmates was walking around and he helped dig me out.

In the hallway, there was a queue of children waiting to be pulled out of the window by a teacher.

There was one boy stood there and he just wouldn't move, he was stunned.

I was pulled out and never knew what happened to him.

Then I found out years later he'd died of a heart attack before being rescued."

Ray Lee lost his only child, who was eight

A black and white photo of a young Ray in a black suit and white shirt. On the right, a modern image of Ray shows him sitting in a chair, with grey hair and glasses. — Image caption,
Ray Lee hoped to find his only child Anne, who was eight

"I can remember being very, very close to her. She used to do things like comb my hair. I had great hopes for her.

We had breakfast, I went to work, and Anne went to school.

And that was it.

It was absolute chaos there - people trying to get into the school.

There was hope in my mind they may find her. I was walking the roads until 10 at night, just living in hope.

I didn't know for certain she'd died until I saw her in the mortuary in Bethania chapel.

It's hard to think about it now.

I'd like to have known her for that bit longer, because the eight years went very quickly."

David Evans phoned for help

A black and white photo of David in a suit and tie. Next to it is a modern photo of David in a red top lying on a bed. — Image caption,
David Evans was one of the few people in Aberfan with a telephone, and called emergency services

"A neighbour knocked on my door and he was in a terrible state, shaking like a leaf.

He wanted to use my phone to call the fire brigade because a house on Moy Road had collapsed.

As we talked, a lady ran past shouting: 'The school has gone, the school has gone.'

I ran down the road and was taken aback - the houses on Moy Road were concertinaed.

A child was shouting 'help me, help me' from under the rubble.

People were going to him, so I headed for the school.

Lorries were arriving, each with about 40 miners from Merthyr Vale colliery who had shovels and pickaxes.

There were bereaved mothers, and I thought 'What the hell has happened?'

Policemen were carrying stretchers with body bags on them, and I thought to myself, where is God? How did he allow this to happen with all these children?"

Mel Parry photographed the devastation

On the left, a black and white photo shows Mel in a black suit and tie. On the right, a modern photo shows Mel in a sweater with glasses. — Image caption,
Mel Parry was an 18-year-old apprentice photographer with the Merthyr Express newspaper

"I had been on the bus through Aberfan when somebody shouted 'the school has fallen down'.

I remember thinking 'that sounds a bit silly', but looked up and there was a gap.

If you've ever seen photos, it [the slurry] took the junior school, but left the senior school completely free.

I was thinking something's not right, but then your journalistic brain kicks into gear, and I realised I had work to do.

Not as something you want to do, but it's your job."

Calvin Pugsley was a journalist

On the left is Calvin in glasses and scarf in the snow. On the right, a modern photo shows him with a shirt, gilet and wearing sunglasses, leaning on a gate. — Image caption,
Calvin Pugsley, originally from Merthyr Tydfil, covered the story for the Birmingham Evening Mail. He described his experiences before his death

"You could just about see the top of the school, but it was totally engulfed by this black mass.

Men worked with shovels, their hands, desperately trying to find survivors.

Every so often, a whistle blew and everybody stopped working.

There'd be total silence while they listened for signs of life.

I was aware of some terrible stories, including of two men who played rugby for Merthyr.

One was Dai Beynon, the deputy headmaster and a big bear of a man.

He scooped as many children as he could in his arms to shield them.

When the room was cleared, they found him still holding them.

And there was Bill Evans - a teacher in Merthyr Tydfil.

When he got back to Aberfan, having heard about the disaster, all he had left was what he was standing up in.

His wife and two children had died, and their home had been swept away."

Jeanette Keane's dad went to find her sister

Jeanette as a girl has short brown hair in a black and white photo. On the right, she has short brown hair and wears a red top. — Image caption,
Jeanette Keane was in a nearby grammar school when she heard her sister Edwina was in danger

"I was at nearby Quakers Yard grammar school, and there were rumours something had happened and children had died.

So we went running out, we all just wanted to go home.

My parents weren't there, they were at the school, my father digging.

He had found my sister Edwina and she was alive. But he couldn't get her out because the roof would have fallen in.

My father laid by the side of her. He held her hand and she suffocated."

Denise Morgan lost her sister

On the left is Denise in a stripey top as a child. As an adult, she has white short white hair, and is wearing a floral dress and smiling. — Image caption,
Denise Morgan remembers it being very hard after losing her sister

"I was 11 and remember my dad coming home with my sister Annette's purse and a piece of her dress.

He had identified her in the makeshift morgue in the chapel.

When I asked what she looked like, he said 'as if she was sleeping'.

Those were his words. She was peaceful.

There was only 18 months between us, we were very close as sisters.

We slept together, the same bed.

From then on, not having her by the side of me was just an enormous loss.

You're only 11 and trying to understand what has happened."