ABERFAN MEMORIAL: PM Honors 144 Dead on 60th Anniversary of Wales Mining Disaster...

On October 21, 1966, a coal tip collapsed in the Welsh village of Aberfan, burying a primary school and killing 144 people—116 children and 28 adults. Prime Minister Andy Burnham visited the memorial site this week ahead of the 60th anniversary, meeting survivors like Jeff Edwards and Irene Hollett, who described mixed emotions of gratitude and guilt at having lived while classmates perished. Burnham acknowledged the disaster as one of Britain's worst tragedies and criticized how authorities handled it at the time, while announcing £140 million in government funding for coal tip safety inspections across Wales—a lingering concern in former mining communities.