Aberfan: A missing Welsh generation
Author: Andrew Protheroe
21 Oct 1966: Hindsight highlighting a failure of foresight?
At 0915hrs on 21 Oct 1966 in Aberfan, Wales, tip No.7 made up of approx. 140,000 cubic yards (110,000 m3) of spoil, slipped down the side of the mountain and engulfed Pantglas Primary School.
116 children and 28 adults perished, in what is known to have been a preventable disaster.
The then Chairman of the NCB (National Coal Board) Alfred Robens caused outrage by not immediately attending Aberfan, and then denying the disaster was preventable - smaller slides had been reported.
The NCB was not prosecuted and no NCB staff were demoted, sacked or prosecuted.
Ironically, Robens would go on to head the Committee on Health & Safety at Work, which enacted the Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974, arguably an Act responsible for having and continuing to save many, many lives. Aberfan.
A missing Welsh generation. Never forgotten.
