   the aberfan disaster was a catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip in the welsh village of aberfan, near merthyr tydfil, on 21 october 1966, killing 116 children and 28 adults. it was caused by a build-up of water in the accumulated rock and shale, which suddenly started to slide downhill in the form of slurry. over 40,000 cubic metres of debris covered the village in minutes, and the classrooms at pantglas junior school were immediately inundated, with young children and teachers dying from impact or suffocation. many noted the poignancy of the situation: if the disaster had struck a few minutes earlier, the children would not have been in their classrooms, and if it had struck a few hours later, the school would have broken up for half-term. great rescue efforts were made, but the large numbers who crowded into the village tended to hamper the work of the trained rescue teams, and delayed the arrival of mineworkers from t
1966_in_Wales Coal_mining_disasters_in_Wales Disasters_in_schools Environmental_disasters_in_the_United_Kingdom Public_inquiries_in_the_United_Kingdom Villages_in_Merthyr_Tydfil Waste_disposal_incidents