With shovels or bare hands, rescue workers tear into the mud and rubble burying the ruins of one of a row of seven houses which were engulfed by a moving mountain of coal slurry at Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire, wales. (credit:PA/PA Archive)
RESCUERS DIG ON IN THE BLAZE OF FLOODLIGHTS(02 of12)
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With picks & shovels & a mechanical shovel, an army of policemen & volunteers dig away under floodlights to-night (Friday) as rescue operations continued at Pantglas Junior School, which was engulfed in coal dust and earth to-day when thousands of tons of colliery tip, a man made mountain, avalanched on to the village of Aberfan, Glamorganshire. Many of the schoolchildren were killed. (credit:PA/PA Archive)
ARMY OF DIGGERS ATTACKS THE BURIED SCHOOL(03 of12)
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Working almost shoulder to shoulder, rescuers dig feverishly in the mud covering Pantglas Junior School at Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, as they try to reach the children trapped to-day (Friday) when the school was engulfed by a moving mountain of rain soaked coal slurry (credit:PA/PA Archive)
Aberfan Anniversary/School(04 of12)
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Rescue workers form a chain to move debri in desperate efforts to reach the children trapped in the Pantglas Junior School at Aberfan, Glamorgan, when a moving mountain of rain-socked coal slurry engulfed the school, the roof of the school stands above a sea of mud and debris. See PA Story ABERFAN Anniversary. PA Photos (credit:PA/PA Archive)
1966 Aberfan Disaster(05 of12)
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The scene at Aberfan, Glamorgan, after a man-made mountain of pit waste slid down onto Pantglas School and a row of housing killing 116 children and 28 adults. (credit:PA/PA Archive)
Aberfan Disaster: School(06 of12)
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Surrounded by rescue workers and sorrowing villagers, blanket-covered bodies of children are lined up on stretchers outside Pantglas Junior School, Aberfan, Glamorganshire. Many of the school\'s pupils died when the village was struck by thousands of tons of coal dust and earth which avalanched down from a colliery tip. (credit:PA/PA Archive)
Disasters and Accidents - Aberfan Disaster - South Wales(07 of12)
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The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh view the destruction to the village of Aberfan after a catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil-tip which killed 116 children and 28 adults (credit:Press Association/PA Archive)
Aberfan Disaster(08 of12)
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Library file 124814-8 dtaed 21.10.66: the path of the landslip is clearly shown in this aerial photo at Aberfan, Glamorgan where a moving mountian of rain-socked coal slurry engulfed a school, trapping many children, and burried a number of houses. This stricken area is seen crowded with rescue workers. See PA Story ABERFAN Anniversary. PA Photos (credit:PA/PA Archive)
Aberfan Disaster - South Wales(09 of12)
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A muddied doll, mute witness to the horror of Aberfan, where a school and houses were swamped by a moving mountain of slag. The doll was salvaged by rescue workers, who toiled through the night. (credit:PA/PA Archive)
Aberfan Disaster - South Wales(10 of12)
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A tea service that was salvaged undamaged from demolished houses in the ravaged South Wales village of Aberfan. (credit:PA/PA Archive)
Disasters and Accidents - Aberfan Disaster - South Wales(11 of12)
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The Duke of Edinburgh, escorted by police officers, looks at a barrier of sand bags being built to hold back any more landslides (credit:S&G/S&G and Barratts)
Aberfan Disaster(12 of12)
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Disaster struck Aberfan, a small mining village in South Wales, where a slag heap started to move slowly towards Pentglas School, and then without a word of warning the \"Black Mountain\" swallowed up its victims, most of them small children. The rescue operation began with people grabbing any tools possible but it wasn\'t enough to save the lives of those suffocated. (credit:S&G/S&G and Barratts)