1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to step you missed in History class from how 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:18,119 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy B. Wilson and I'm Holly Frying. Most of 4 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:21,160 Speaker 1: the time, when when we talk about mining disasters in history, 5 00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:24,960 Speaker 1: they tend to play out really similarly. There's usually an 6 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: underground fire or explosion or some kind of collapse that 7 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:31,040 Speaker 1: kills some of the people working in the mind while 8 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:35,880 Speaker 1: trapping others, and then we have a whole rescue situation. 9 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:41,120 Speaker 1: Usually the casualties are the miners themselves and their rescuers, 10 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:45,640 Speaker 1: and then sometimes working animals like horses. Another running theme 11 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 1: is safety precautions that could have prevented the whole disaster 12 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:52,159 Speaker 1: that were either ignored or just didn't exist yet. That 13 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 1: is one of the reasons why there is only one 14 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:58,560 Speaker 1: episode dedicated just to a mining disaster in our archive. 15 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: That is the nineteen six Courier mining disaster, which we 16 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:05,160 Speaker 1: covered back in That's not to say we're never going 17 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: to talk about another of these disasters, but they do 18 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 1: tend to be uncannily similar. Yeah, I mean, it's come up. 19 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:14,560 Speaker 1: I think you've probably had this happen to where I'm 20 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:17,319 Speaker 1: looking around at possible topics, and I'll be like, oh, 21 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:19,840 Speaker 1: this is a mining thing. This is really similar to 22 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:22,119 Speaker 1: that one we did last year. So then I back 23 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:24,480 Speaker 1: off and find something else. Yeah, we have the same 24 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:28,520 Speaker 1: problem with fires. A lot of the fire episodes play 25 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:32,959 Speaker 1: out and just an uncannily similar trajectory. So today's disaster 26 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 1: is an exception to a lot of what I just said. 27 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:40,319 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty six, a mining disaster and aber Van 28 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 1: whales killed a hundred and forty four people. That was 29 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:47,920 Speaker 1: a completely preventible tragedy, so that lines up. But none 30 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:51,240 Speaker 1: of the victims were in the mine itself, and a 31 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:55,920 Speaker 1: hundred and sixteen of them were children. So brace because 32 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: it's not it's not a fun one. It's really not. 33 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:02,560 Speaker 1: It's I wasn't planning to do this episode. I was, 34 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: in fact getting research for completely unrelated stuff and stumbled 35 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:11,360 Speaker 1: across this one sentence mentioned of this and then said, 36 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:14,440 Speaker 1: now I have to find out this is what happened. 37 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:18,840 Speaker 1: So people in Wales have been using coal since prehistory, 38 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,560 Speaker 1: and the first efforts at deliberate coal mining there started 39 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 1: in about the fifteenth century, but it wasn't until the 40 00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 1: eighteenth century that coal mining started to become a major 41 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:32,320 Speaker 1: industry in Wales, and with the Industrial Revolution it really 42 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:36,799 Speaker 1: started to flourish. By the nineteenth century, other industries were 43 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:39,280 Speaker 1: growing up in tanem with coal mining. There was a 44 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 1: whole network of canals, railroads and ports that allowed the 45 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:46,120 Speaker 1: coal to be transported around Southern Wales and then shipped elsewhere. 46 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:50,880 Speaker 1: By ninety two hundred, seventy one thousand men were working 47 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:54,040 Speaker 1: in Welsh coal mines and coal was the nation's single 48 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:57,760 Speaker 1: biggest industry, and at its peak, the Welsh coal mining 49 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:01,760 Speaker 1: industry was particularly danger is. In addition to the typical 50 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: threats of explosions, collapses and toxic gases, the seams in 51 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:09,359 Speaker 1: the South Wales coal field tended to be very fragile, 52 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 1: with the area's geology particularly prone to collapse. Between eighteen 53 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 1: fifty one and nineteen twenty, there were forty eight disasters 54 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:21,360 Speaker 1: and three thousand deaths in the South Wales coal field, 55 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,400 Speaker 1: in addition to more minor day to day accidents and injuries, 56 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 1: as well as illnesses and diseases that were just essentially 57 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: occupational hazards. Yeah, the coal was a high quality, but 58 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 1: getting it out of the ground came at a pretty 59 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:39,840 Speaker 1: high cost. The Welsh coal industry really started to decline 60 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:43,720 Speaker 1: pretty rapidly after World War One, though, shedding hundreds of 61 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: minds and hundreds of thousands of jobs by the nineteen thirties. 62 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:50,480 Speaker 1: In ninety seven, in part to try to protect what 63 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:55,000 Speaker 1: was left of it, Wales nationalized the coal industry, including 64 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 1: making some investments into improvements and safety. After this point, 65 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:02,880 Speaker 1: Welsh coal times were overseen by the National Coal Board. 66 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:06,960 Speaker 1: By the nineteen sixties, the nationalized coal industry in Wales 67 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 1: was still alive, but it was really struggling. Even so, 68 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: Minds continued to be the major employer in a number 69 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 1: of towns dotted along the South Wales coal field. One 70 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 1: of these was aber Van, many of whose residents worked 71 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:23,080 Speaker 1: at the Merthyr Vale Colliery, which had been established in 72 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:27,280 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty nine. Getting the coal out of this or 73 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:31,040 Speaker 1: any other mine was not particularly clean or efficient. By 74 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:34,680 Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties, Mirthr Vale Colliery was producing about thirty 75 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 1: six tons of waste a day. This included coal waste, 76 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:42,680 Speaker 1: ash and sludge, collectively known as spoil, and it also 77 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:46,840 Speaker 1: included general debris like broken cables, pieces of pipe, broken 78 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 1: up bits of concrete and the like. The method of 79 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:52,720 Speaker 1: dealing with this waste was to put it in an 80 00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 1: outdoor pile known as a tip. This was a standard 81 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:00,200 Speaker 1: practice in the industry. There were about five hundred coal 82 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:03,920 Speaker 1: tips in South Wales at the time, and the tribunal 83 00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:07,560 Speaker 1: report that followed this disaster described it this way quote 84 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 1: Rubbish tips are unnecessary and inevitable adjunct to a coal mine, 85 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: even as a dust bin is to a house. But 86 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:18,000 Speaker 1: it is plain that the miners devote certainly no more 87 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:21,799 Speaker 1: attention to rubbish tips than households. Due to dust bins, 88 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: these coal tips could be quite treacherous. Coal is often 89 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:29,200 Speaker 1: found mixed in with layers of clay and shale, and 90 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:32,159 Speaker 1: the material tends to be pretty wet, so if you 91 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: put such a mixture into a giant pile, it's going 92 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: to be naturally prone to shifting and sliding around. In 93 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:42,600 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six paper in Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology, 94 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 1: which was entitled Rapid Failures of Colliery spoil Heaps in 95 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:51,160 Speaker 1: South Wales Coalfield described twenty one rapid failures that had 96 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 1: happened between eight and nineteen sixty five. Fortunately, none of these, 97 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:59,919 Speaker 1: which were a lot like landslides, None of these caused 98 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:05,040 Speaker 1: any known loss of life, although they had destroyed property, buildings, vehicles, 99 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:10,800 Speaker 1: and roads. Do you know how big these tended to be? Huge? Colossal, 100 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 1: like giant. They look like big hills or mountains. I mean, 101 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:18,720 Speaker 1: we're putting out dozens of tons of waste each day, 102 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:20,479 Speaker 1: so it makes sense that they would be massive, But 103 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:22,960 Speaker 1: just to get a sense of scale, I wanted to 104 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:25,159 Speaker 1: mention them. Yeah, and we have. We have some more 105 00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:27,720 Speaker 1: specific figures in terms of the one that actually caused 106 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:31,360 Speaker 1: today's disaster. But yeah, that when you there are still 107 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:34,040 Speaker 1: these exists still all over the world in places that 108 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:35,760 Speaker 1: there have been coal mines, and some of them really 109 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:38,200 Speaker 1: look like that is the local mountain right there, then 110 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:42,320 Speaker 1: it's really a local mountain made out of coal spoil, 111 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:46,440 Speaker 1: leftover stuff, gotcha. And the wetter that these piles got, 112 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:49,920 Speaker 1: the more unstable they became, which was also well established. 113 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:53,599 Speaker 1: That wasn't a secret. Everybody knew it. Professor George Knox 114 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:58,360 Speaker 1: had written Landslides in South Wales Valleys in nine which 115 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:02,599 Speaker 1: outlined the dangers to stability that came from uncontrolled water. 116 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:07,320 Speaker 1: After Professor Knox's time, changes to coal processing lead to 117 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 1: another type of waste tailings just sort of an oozy 118 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 1: wet sludge of very fine particles. Tips that included both 119 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:19,920 Speaker 1: traditional spoil and tailings tended to have more issues with 120 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:24,320 Speaker 1: water related shifting and sliding. In spite of the known 121 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 1: hazards and the history of landslides, these tips were not 122 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: really regulated in any way. The National Coal Board had 123 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 1: no official policies or procedures governing where they should be 124 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 1: placed or how they should be inspected or maintained. The 125 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 1: closest thing to some kind of official direction was a 126 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 1: memo written by an engineer at Powell Different Company after 127 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:48,440 Speaker 1: a slide in nineteen thirty nine. This memo outlined to 128 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:52,520 Speaker 1: some common sense strategies for tips safety. I'm going to say, 129 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:56,560 Speaker 1: as a person who is not an engineer or someone 130 00:07:56,640 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 1: who works in the coal mining industry, these make a 131 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 1: lot of basic sense. Limiting the height of the tip, 132 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:06,400 Speaker 1: arranging its slope and surrounding drains to allow the water 133 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:09,800 Speaker 1: to flow away from it, and never tipping over springs 134 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:13,640 Speaker 1: or water logged ground. This memo was written before the 135 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:16,840 Speaker 1: creation of the National Coal Board, but Clifford Jones, who 136 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:19,880 Speaker 1: went on to become a National Coal Board engineer, got 137 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:21,920 Speaker 1: a copy of it from his father, who had been 138 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:26,320 Speaker 1: an engineer at Powell Dufferin before the coal industry was nationalized, 139 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:29,600 Speaker 1: and after a nineteen sixty five incident in which a 140 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 1: tailing disposal site collapsed, Jones remembered the old memo, dug 141 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 1: it out, added guidance about disposing of tailings ideally separated 142 00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:43,360 Speaker 1: from other spoil and recirculated it. Even that small amount 143 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:46,320 Speaker 1: of direction wasn't being followed at the tips on minnote 144 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:49,319 Speaker 1: Murthur or mirth Or Mountain above the town of Abervan. 145 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:53,560 Speaker 1: The murther Vale Colliery had started creating tips on the 146 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:56,760 Speaker 1: mountain in the nineteen teens, and by nineteen sixty six 147 00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:00,000 Speaker 1: there were seven tips. They were situated between a series 148 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:03,360 Speaker 1: of streams and drains that flowed towards the valley. These 149 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 1: tips varied in height from forty to two hundred meters 150 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:09,240 Speaker 1: or a hundred and thirty one to six d and 151 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:13,560 Speaker 1: fifty six feet. Spoil was transported from the mine up 152 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:16,480 Speaker 1: the mountain by a tram and then a crane was 153 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 1: used to dump the tram cars contents onto the top 154 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:23,079 Speaker 1: of these piles. Once a tip had reached the end 155 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:26,280 Speaker 1: of its usable life, for some reason, the company would 156 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:29,680 Speaker 1: just start a new one. Tip seven had been started 157 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:33,160 Speaker 1: in ninety eight after a farmer complained that spoil from 158 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:37,000 Speaker 1: Tip six was spilling onto his land. The site was 159 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:40,520 Speaker 1: chosen without a survey or much scrutiny at all. It 160 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:43,079 Speaker 1: just seemed to be the only available site on the mountain, 161 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:46,080 Speaker 1: and its proximity to Tip six made it easy to 162 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:49,160 Speaker 1: just move the equipment. There was a whole process that 163 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:50,720 Speaker 1: they were going to need to go through if they 164 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:53,840 Speaker 1: were going to move to a completely different tipping site, 165 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:57,240 Speaker 1: but adding a new tip in an already existing complex 166 00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 1: did not have a lot of scrutiny it all, so 167 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:02,320 Speaker 1: they basically said, Okay, we're gonna move it over here. 168 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:06,560 Speaker 1: By nineteen sixty two, Tip seven had expanded to the 169 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:09,720 Speaker 1: point that its base was covering a spring, and by 170 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:12,600 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six that had grown to thirty four meters 171 00:10:12,679 --> 00:10:16,000 Speaker 1: or a hundred and eleven feet tall. It contained about 172 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:19,520 Speaker 1: two hundred twenty nine thousand, three hundred cubic meters or 173 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:23,040 Speaker 1: three hundred thousand cubic yards of coal waste. It was 174 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:26,920 Speaker 1: also known to be unstable. After the base extended over 175 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:30,640 Speaker 1: that spring, it pretty much immediately started experiencing issues with 176 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:33,600 Speaker 1: sinking and slumping, and it had a major slide in 177 00:10:33,679 --> 00:10:37,600 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty three. Tips seven was also the only one 178 00:10:37,679 --> 00:10:40,600 Speaker 1: on the mountains that contained tailings, which wasn't the cause 179 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:44,640 Speaker 1: of the disaster, but did make the water related hazards 180 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:48,400 Speaker 1: greater than they would have been without it. The tipping 181 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:52,360 Speaker 1: crew at Merthyr Vale never saw Clifford Jones nineteen sixty 182 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:56,319 Speaker 1: five memo due to a breakdown in communication within the NCB, 183 00:10:57,240 --> 00:10:59,719 Speaker 1: they had no specific training or guidance in how to 184 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:03,840 Speaker 1: man manage the tip. Tip seven failed at nearly every 185 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:07,320 Speaker 1: guideline that the memo outlined. It was very tall, it 186 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:10,120 Speaker 1: was placed on a steep, porous slope that eventually covered 187 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:14,240 Speaker 1: a spring. It also contained both tailings and traditional spoil, 188 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:16,959 Speaker 1: and on top of all that, it was above an 189 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:22,679 Speaker 1: elementary school. Residents of Abravan had had raised concerns about 190 00:11:22,679 --> 00:11:24,960 Speaker 1: the tip and its proximity to the school and the 191 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:28,720 Speaker 1: rest of the town, especially after that nineteen sixty three slide. 192 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:33,040 Speaker 1: For example, Burrow and Waterworks engineer D. C. W. Jones 193 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:36,079 Speaker 1: wrote a number of letters to raise the alarm about 194 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:38,959 Speaker 1: Tip seven beginning that same year, and a letter to 195 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:44,080 Speaker 1: the district Public Work superintendent dated July twenty he wrote 196 00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:47,679 Speaker 1: under the heading danger from coal slurry being tipped at 197 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:50,680 Speaker 1: the rear of pant Glass School. He said that he 198 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:54,480 Speaker 1: considered the situation to be extremely serious, writing quote, the 199 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:57,360 Speaker 1: slurry is so fluid and the gradients so steep that 200 00:11:57,440 --> 00:11:59,960 Speaker 1: it could not possibly stay in position in the wind, 201 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:04,120 Speaker 1: inter time or daring periods of heavy rain. D. C. W. 202 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:08,560 Speaker 1: Jones sent another letter on August nineteen sixty three, this 203 00:12:08,679 --> 00:12:11,439 Speaker 1: time to the n c B S Area Chief mechanical 204 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:15,959 Speaker 1: Engineer D. L. Roberts. He stressed the danger to people 205 00:12:16,040 --> 00:12:18,920 Speaker 1: and property and the dangers of winter weather and storm 206 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:23,240 Speaker 1: water on the tip. D. L. Roberts sent a letter 207 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:26,720 Speaker 1: back on March thirteenth, nineteen sixty four, which ended quote, 208 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:30,120 Speaker 1: as you will appreciate, these tailings are very difficult to handle, 209 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:32,760 Speaker 1: and we are very careful in disposing of this material 210 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:36,080 Speaker 1: so as not to inconvenience any person or persons, and 211 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:39,199 Speaker 1: therefore we would not like to continue beyond the next 212 00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:41,800 Speaker 1: six to eight weeks and tipping on the mountain side 213 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:44,000 Speaker 1: where it is likely to be a source of danger 214 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:47,679 Speaker 1: to pank Less School. Apart from the letters about the 215 00:12:47,679 --> 00:12:50,839 Speaker 1: coal tip, there had also been letters and complaints from 216 00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:54,280 Speaker 1: residents about persistent flooding of parts of aber Van because 217 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:56,959 Speaker 1: of shale and slurry from the tips that had blocked 218 00:12:57,040 --> 00:13:00,920 Speaker 1: natural waterways. These are just example. These were complaints that 219 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:04,040 Speaker 1: came in from engineer DC W. Jones, from the council 220 00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:07,360 Speaker 1: and from residents, but none of these complaints were heated, 221 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:11,360 Speaker 1: which ultimately led to the disaster that we'll talk about 222 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:19,679 Speaker 1: after a quick sponsor break. Aber Van, Wales had been 223 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:23,000 Speaker 1: a mining town for almost a century, and for about 224 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:26,160 Speaker 1: fifty years it had existed in the shadow of spoiled 225 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:29,760 Speaker 1: tips along north Or Mountain. There were farmhouses on the 226 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:32,680 Speaker 1: mountain slope between the tips and the town, and the 227 00:13:32,679 --> 00:13:35,720 Speaker 1: mountain itself was a place for recreation. Children played, their 228 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:39,679 Speaker 1: families went on picnics there, even as residents, the council 229 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:43,160 Speaker 1: and engineers raised concerns about the proximity of the tips 230 00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:46,000 Speaker 1: to the town and to the school. For the most part, 231 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:48,800 Speaker 1: this mine and the tips were just a fact of life, 232 00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:53,280 Speaker 1: but that changed on October twenty one, ninety six. When 233 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:56,240 Speaker 1: the tip and crew arrived for work that morning, they 234 00:13:56,280 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 1: noted that the tip had sunk by about nine meters, 235 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:03,280 Speaker 1: created a depression under the crane track. One of the 236 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:05,640 Speaker 1: men went back to the colliery to tell their manager 237 00:14:05,679 --> 00:14:08,400 Speaker 1: about it because they no longer had a phone connection 238 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:12,160 Speaker 1: because the wire had repeatedly been stolen. There was a 239 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:15,080 Speaker 1: lot of conversation about whether a phone connection would have 240 00:14:15,559 --> 00:14:19,360 Speaker 1: helped and the ultimate The ultimate decision was that this 241 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:22,760 Speaker 1: happened so quickly that it would not have. The rest 242 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:25,400 Speaker 1: of the crew moved their equipment back from the edge 243 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:27,880 Speaker 1: of this depression. By the time they were done, though, 244 00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:30,880 Speaker 1: it seemed like the tip had sunk even further. They 245 00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:34,480 Speaker 1: decided to move everything even farther back, but first to 246 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:36,440 Speaker 1: stop for a break and have a cup of tea 247 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:39,840 Speaker 1: before they went on with their work. This break likely 248 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:44,360 Speaker 1: saved all of their lives. Not long after nine am, 249 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:47,840 Speaker 1: the crane driver Gwynn Brown, saw the tips seemed to 250 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:53,000 Speaker 1: rise and first slowly and then rapidly, and then it banished. 251 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:56,920 Speaker 1: While the weather at the top of the mountain was clear, 252 00:14:57,320 --> 00:14:59,440 Speaker 1: down in the valley, it was very foggy with low 253 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:02,960 Speaker 1: line outs. The visibility was only about fifty yards, so 254 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:07,200 Speaker 1: the mountain was almost invisible. In side pank Lass Junior School, 255 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:10,000 Speaker 1: it was the last day of school before mid term break. 256 00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:12,960 Speaker 1: The students had just returned to their classrooms from a 257 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:15,880 Speaker 1: morning assembly when they heard a very loud roar, like 258 00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:19,720 Speaker 1: thunder or a jet engine. At about nine fifteen am, 259 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:23,680 Speaker 1: a wall of liquefied coal waste described as a dark 260 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:28,280 Speaker 1: glistening wave, hit pant Glass School and several adjacent houses. 261 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:32,080 Speaker 1: It poured around and through the school and the homes, 262 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:35,760 Speaker 1: both crushing and filling them, before flowing across the street, 263 00:15:36,240 --> 00:15:39,480 Speaker 1: through two more rows of houses and into another street. 264 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:42,240 Speaker 1: It had also destroyed a farm on the way down 265 00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:45,640 Speaker 1: the mountain, killing the family who lived there. As it 266 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:49,640 Speaker 1: came to rest, about one hundred forty thousand cubic meters 267 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:56,120 Speaker 1: of previously liquefied debris began to harden like concrete. Am 268 00:15:56,480 --> 00:15:59,920 Speaker 1: merthyr Tinville Police received an emergency call that said quote, 269 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:02,480 Speaker 1: I have been asked to inform that there has been 270 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:05,360 Speaker 1: a landslide at pank Glass. The tip has come down 271 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:08,960 Speaker 1: on a school. Work at the colliery stopped immediately, with 272 00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:12,560 Speaker 1: the miners going to work at the rescue. Miners came 273 00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:15,280 Speaker 1: in from other nearby collieries as well, along with around 274 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 1: two thousand emergency workers and citizens. Using shovels, buckets, and 275 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:23,800 Speaker 1: household pots and pans, people formed bucket brigades to try 276 00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:26,800 Speaker 1: to move the debris out from around the school. Some 277 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:30,040 Speaker 1: parents resorted to using their bare hands to search for 278 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:33,760 Speaker 1: their children. Whenever somebody thought they heard a cry or 279 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:36,680 Speaker 1: some kind of movement under the debris, a whistle would 280 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:40,080 Speaker 1: be blown and all movement would stop while everyone stayed 281 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:43,680 Speaker 1: silent and listened. But nobody was removed from the wreckage 282 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:49,000 Speaker 1: alive after eleven am. The situation inside the school was gruesome. 283 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:52,960 Speaker 1: Most of the deaths were due to suffocation, skull fracture, 284 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:56,640 Speaker 1: or severe physical trauma. Some of the victims had been 285 00:16:56,680 --> 00:17:00,880 Speaker 1: dismembered by the force of the landslide. David Bayannon was 286 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:03,760 Speaker 1: the school's deputy head teacher, and when his body was 287 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:07,240 Speaker 1: recovered from the wreckage, he was cradling those of five 288 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,840 Speaker 1: of his students. Later on, his son, who was thirteen 289 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:13,360 Speaker 1: at the time of the disaster, theorized that the students 290 00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:15,840 Speaker 1: had heard the sound of the slide and had runned 291 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,280 Speaker 1: his father, who had taken them all up in his 292 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:22,360 Speaker 1: arms before the landslide hit. But Sanya Chapel was used 293 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:25,360 Speaker 1: as a temporary mortuary, with the bodies being laid out 294 00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:29,400 Speaker 1: on the pews and covered in blankets. Nurses and volunteers 295 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:32,240 Speaker 1: cleaned off the soil and made notes of the appearances 296 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:36,399 Speaker 1: and belongings of the bodies to help with identification. The 297 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:39,359 Speaker 1: bodies that were really badly damaged are dismembered were marked 298 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:43,359 Speaker 1: with notes not to be viewed. Eventually, the chapel became 299 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:45,520 Speaker 1: so full that the bodies had to be carried to 300 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:50,600 Speaker 1: the upstairs gallery with stretchers supplementing the pews. Since there 301 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:54,639 Speaker 1: were no government offices nearby, burial and cremation certificates were 302 00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:56,760 Speaker 1: issued from a fish and ship shop that was five 303 00:17:56,800 --> 00:18:01,040 Speaker 1: doors down from the chapel. Coffins were brought into Abervan 304 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:04,359 Speaker 1: from elsewhere in South Wales as well as the Midlands 305 00:18:04,359 --> 00:18:08,400 Speaker 1: in Northern Ireland. Hundreds of embalmers arrived the Sunday after 306 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:12,320 Speaker 1: the disaster to clean and dress the identified bodies, and 307 00:18:12,359 --> 00:18:14,399 Speaker 1: once they were in coffins, they were removed to a 308 00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:18,920 Speaker 1: second temporary mortuary at Abervan Calvinistic Chapel to be held 309 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:23,040 Speaker 1: until their burial. Because of the scale of the disaster 310 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:26,080 Speaker 1: and the fact that so many structures were destroyed by 311 00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:29,119 Speaker 1: the slide, the city and police went to great lengths 312 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:32,480 Speaker 1: to make sure everyone was accounted for. This was particularly 313 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:36,400 Speaker 1: necessary since some of the children inside the school lived 314 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:39,960 Speaker 1: and destroyed houses that were nearby, so if their parents 315 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:42,119 Speaker 1: had been killed in their homes, there was no one 316 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:44,879 Speaker 1: to come to the chapel to look for them. Police 317 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:48,440 Speaker 1: conducted house to house searches, and they crossed reference school records, 318 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:50,520 Speaker 1: tax records and the like to make sure that no 319 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:54,840 Speaker 1: one had been overlooked. In the end, one hundred sixteen 320 00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:59,000 Speaker 1: children and twenty eight adults, including the school's headmistress and 321 00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:03,280 Speaker 1: four teachers, died. Most of the children were between seven 322 00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:05,880 Speaker 1: and ten, although the youngest was a three month old 323 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:10,880 Speaker 1: that was killed at home. Eighty one children and Gwyneth Collins, 324 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:12,800 Speaker 1: a mother who was killed in her home while her 325 00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:15,840 Speaker 1: two sons were killed at school, were buried at a 326 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:20,040 Speaker 1: mass funeral on October. Those who wanted their loved ones 327 00:19:20,119 --> 00:19:23,880 Speaker 1: to have their own service or burial elsewhere did. Lord 328 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:27,480 Speaker 1: Alfred Robins of Waldingham, chairman of the National Coal Board, 329 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:30,760 Speaker 1: arrived on the scene about thirty six hours after the disaster. 330 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:33,560 Speaker 1: He told a TV reporter that the cause of the 331 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:36,119 Speaker 1: disaster was a spring under the tip that no one 332 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:39,119 Speaker 1: had known about, and that no one could have known about, 333 00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:43,680 Speaker 1: but the locals contradicted that immediately that spring was something 334 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:46,680 Speaker 1: they had always known was there. In fact, the tipping 335 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:49,040 Speaker 1: crew had been in the habit of drinking from the 336 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:51,520 Speaker 1: spring before the base of the tip covered it up. 337 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:55,640 Speaker 1: Lord Robins was also heavily criticized for not coming directly 338 00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:59,240 Speaker 1: to the disaster scene, but instead attending the ceremony to 339 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:02,560 Speaker 1: install him as chancellor at the University of Surrey. First. 340 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:07,000 Speaker 1: There were naturally immediate calls for an inquest, and we 341 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:09,680 Speaker 1: will talk about that inquest and its findings after one 342 00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:19,399 Speaker 1: more quick sponsor break. After the Aberban disaster, Prime Minister 343 00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:22,199 Speaker 1: Harold Wilson ordered a tribunal under the terms of the 344 00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:27,359 Speaker 1: Tribunals of Inquiry Act. Of this tribunals basic intent was 345 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:31,000 Speaker 1: to establish what happened and why, whether it was preventible, 346 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:33,840 Speaker 1: and what could be learned from it. Glad When Hughes, 347 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:37,120 Speaker 1: Secretary of State for Wales, led the inquiry, which launched 348 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:42,240 Speaker 1: on October with Judge Edmund Davies presiding. The general public 349 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:46,440 Speaker 1: had doubts about this based on the response to past disasters. 350 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:48,280 Speaker 1: There were worries that the whole thing was going to 351 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:52,040 Speaker 1: be glossed over. This was compounded by the Attorney General 352 00:20:52,119 --> 00:20:55,600 Speaker 1: restricting the media from speculating on the cause of the disaster. 353 00:20:56,520 --> 00:20:59,240 Speaker 1: But in the end, the report issued by the Tribunal 354 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:02,720 Speaker 1: did not sugar coat anything. It was released after a 355 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:05,720 Speaker 1: seventy six day investigation, which was at the time the 356 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:09,479 Speaker 1: longest in British history. Over those seventy six days, they 357 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:12,439 Speaker 1: heard testimony from a hundred thirty six witnesses and they 358 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:16,679 Speaker 1: examined more than three hundred exhibits. That report, which was 359 00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:22,800 Speaker 1: issued on August third, seven, is scathing. Quote. The Abervan 360 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:27,160 Speaker 1: disaster is a terrifying tale of bungling ineptitude by many 361 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:30,359 Speaker 1: men charged with tasks for which they were totally unfitted, 362 00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:34,360 Speaker 1: of failure to heed clear warnings, and of total lack 363 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:38,520 Speaker 1: of direction from above. Not villains, but decent men led 364 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:42,400 Speaker 1: astray by foolishness or by ignorance, or by both in combination, 365 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:47,480 Speaker 1: are responsible for what happened at Abervan. The report also 366 00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:51,000 Speaker 1: makes it very clear who should be responsible. Quote. Blame 367 00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:54,159 Speaker 1: for the disaster rests upon the National Coal Board. That 368 00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:58,240 Speaker 1: is shared, though in varying degrees, among the NCB headquarters, 369 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:03,399 Speaker 1: the Southwestern Divisional Board, and certain individuals. The legal liability 370 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:05,879 Speaker 1: of the n c B to pay compensation of the 371 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:09,679 Speaker 1: personal injuries fatal or otherwise, and damage to property is 372 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:14,960 Speaker 1: incontestable and uncontested. The report notes that the tip never 373 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:17,399 Speaker 1: should have been on top of the spring, that the 374 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:20,840 Speaker 1: site had not even been adequately examined or analyzed for 375 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,919 Speaker 1: use as a tipping site in the first place. It 376 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:28,040 Speaker 1: documents from repeated failures to pass important information about managing 377 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:30,880 Speaker 1: the tip down to the people doing the work, or 378 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:36,560 Speaker 1: from the tip crew up to management. There are numerous illustrations, diagrams, charts, 379 00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:39,320 Speaker 1: and reports that boiled down to the fact that the 380 00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:43,720 Speaker 1: disaster was completely preventable and should have been prevented, not 381 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:47,359 Speaker 1: just something that was preventable in hindsight. Even though this 382 00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:50,760 Speaker 1: report was incredibly clear and while documented, it did not 383 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:53,720 Speaker 1: lead to any ramifications for the n c B. No 384 00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:57,800 Speaker 1: one was fired, fined, or faced any criminal charges. Although 385 00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:01,000 Speaker 1: Lord Romans offered to resign, that off for was refused, 386 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:03,720 Speaker 1: and there's also a pretty cynical read on his timing 387 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:07,240 Speaker 1: of making that offer. He made it after visiting several 388 00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:11,280 Speaker 1: South Wales coal towns and and and denouncing nuclear power 389 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:14,879 Speaker 1: while he was there, which bolstered his popularity among the 390 00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:18,560 Speaker 1: mining communities who thought nuclear power would threaten their own livelihood. 391 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:22,639 Speaker 1: The NCB also refused to acknowledge its responsibility for the 392 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:26,159 Speaker 1: majority of this inquest, even though that responsibility had been 393 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:30,879 Speaker 1: acknowledged in private before the tribunal even began. The tribunal 394 00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:36,560 Speaker 1: report described the n cbs financial liability as incontestable. Even so, 395 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:39,800 Speaker 1: the NCB refused to accept blame or to pay for 396 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:43,440 Speaker 1: things like rebuilding the school, removing the remaining tips from 397 00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:48,040 Speaker 1: the mountain, or raising and rebuilding Bethania Chapel, which congregants 398 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:51,119 Speaker 1: felt too traumatized to even use after its service as 399 00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:54,960 Speaker 1: a temporary morgue for more than a hundred children. The 400 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:58,159 Speaker 1: Coal Board was reluctant to even pay reparations to the 401 00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:02,320 Speaker 1: victims families, and this really suggesting fifty pounds per person 402 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:06,760 Speaker 1: and then eventually raising that to five hundred pounds. Most 403 00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:09,520 Speaker 1: of the money for these things instead came from the 404 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:12,840 Speaker 1: disaster fund that was raised in the wake of the tragedy. 405 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:16,600 Speaker 1: More than ninety thousand contributions to the fund totaled more 406 00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:20,919 Speaker 1: than one point six million pounds. Only one memorial fund 407 00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:23,520 Speaker 1: and the UK has ever been larger, and that was 408 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:26,760 Speaker 1: the one raised for Diana, Princess of Wales. It was 409 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:31,080 Speaker 1: finally a hundred and fifty thousand pounds of Disaster Fund 410 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:33,480 Speaker 1: money that was spent to remove the rest of the 411 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:37,760 Speaker 1: tips from the mountain above Abervan. The NCB kept insisting 412 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:40,400 Speaker 1: that these tips were safe, while the people of Abervan 413 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:44,760 Speaker 1: insisted that they could not possibly feel safe living under them. 414 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:47,679 Speaker 1: That money was finally returned to the Disaster Fund. In 415 00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:53,720 Speaker 1: the Disaster Fund had its own share of complications and issues. 416 00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:58,920 Speaker 1: The Charity Commission actually proposed asking parents how close they 417 00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:02,200 Speaker 1: were to their children and paying only those who said 418 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:08,160 Speaker 1: they were close. Gosh, that is horrifying. Uh. Families were 419 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:11,280 Speaker 1: worried that if they accepted donations from the disaster Fund, 420 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:14,600 Speaker 1: it would prevent them from being able to accept compensation 421 00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:18,679 Speaker 1: from the NCB. Most of the people administering the charity 422 00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:21,800 Speaker 1: didn't actually live in Abervan, and in many cases the 423 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:25,639 Speaker 1: village did not feel well represented in the decision making process. 424 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:29,960 Speaker 1: In addition to paying for repairs and rebuilding that should 425 00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:33,879 Speaker 1: have been covered by the NCB and were incontestably the 426 00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:37,080 Speaker 1: responsibility of the n c B, the Charity Fund paid 427 00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:40,679 Speaker 1: for white archways at the mass burial site at the cemetery, 428 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:43,600 Speaker 1: a memorial garden on the site of the former school, 429 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:48,040 Speaker 1: a new community hall, donations to victims, families, and scholarships. 430 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:52,439 Speaker 1: In addition to the tragic loss of life, the financial 431 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:57,440 Speaker 1: concerns and the rebuilding effort, this disaster was emotionally devastating 432 00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:00,840 Speaker 1: to the village of Abervan. Similarly to what we discussed 433 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:05,120 Speaker 1: in the New London School explosion, tensions arose between families 434 00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:08,760 Speaker 1: who had lost children and those who had not. Many 435 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:12,360 Speaker 1: people reported survivor's guilt, and although the term post traumatic 436 00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:15,760 Speaker 1: stress disorder had not been coined yet in nineteen sixty six, 437 00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:20,240 Speaker 1: the symptoms of that were clearly widespread. At least twenty 438 00:26:20,359 --> 00:26:25,320 Speaker 1: premature deaths were reported among parents who lost children. The 439 00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:28,840 Speaker 1: sense of guilt and trauma was compounded by the general 440 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:32,240 Speaker 1: manner of South Wales. The temperament of the era was 441 00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:34,840 Speaker 1: a stoic one, and this was particularly true in a 442 00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:38,240 Speaker 1: mining town where danger and death were an everyday part 443 00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:41,040 Speaker 1: of life, and the industry that fueled the town's economy 444 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:44,760 Speaker 1: was one that was viewed as particularly masculine. A lot 445 00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:48,520 Speaker 1: of survivors, children and adults alike, did not talk about 446 00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:52,679 Speaker 1: the disaster for decades afterward. The fiftieth anniversary of the 447 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:56,840 Speaker 1: disaster in sixteen was a national observance, with some survivors 448 00:26:56,840 --> 00:26:59,479 Speaker 1: talking about it then for the first time and others 449 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:03,000 Speaker 1: still not talking about it at all. The disaster at 450 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:05,919 Speaker 1: aber Van did lead to changes to the coal industry 451 00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:10,919 Speaker 1: and how it handled tipping. The tribunal report recommendations included 452 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:14,520 Speaker 1: addressing the lack of regulations of coal tips and requiring 453 00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:17,680 Speaker 1: that the tips should be treated as civil engineering structures 454 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:20,920 Speaker 1: with laws and codes in place and with the people 455 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:25,240 Speaker 1: managing them trained to do so. The Minds and Quarries 456 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:29,080 Speaker 1: Tips Act of nineteen sixty nine followed, extending the earlier 457 00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:33,040 Speaker 1: Minds and Quarries Act ninety four. The nineteen sixty nine 458 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:35,800 Speaker 1: Act is quote an Act to make further provision in 459 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:39,600 Speaker 1: relation to tips associated with minds and quarries, to prevent 460 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:43,760 Speaker 1: disused tips constituting a danger to members of the public 461 00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:49,040 Speaker 1: and for purposes connected with those matters. Ironically, Lord Robins 462 00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:51,560 Speaker 1: went on to chair at Health and Safety Review which 463 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:54,359 Speaker 1: led to the Health and Safety at Work Act of 464 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:59,480 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy four. Yeah, that Sarbune report was pretty clear 465 00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:01,520 Speaker 1: and the like we we don't think anybody is a 466 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:04,480 Speaker 1: villain here, but in the aftermath of all this, he 467 00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:08,080 Speaker 1: is the person that was most often painted as a villain, 468 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:11,119 Speaker 1: not just for his own decisions, but for his manner 469 00:28:11,119 --> 00:28:14,679 Speaker 1: in dealing with the tragedy after the fact. Today, the 470 00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:19,000 Speaker 1: coal industry in Wales is effectively gone by the nineteen eighties. 471 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:21,600 Speaker 1: It was steeply in decline and then disrupted by a 472 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:24,000 Speaker 1: lengthy strike in the middle of the decade, which began 473 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:26,840 Speaker 1: not long after an announcement that twenty minds were to 474 00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:30,720 Speaker 1: be closed. That strike ended in nineteen eight five, even 475 00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:33,720 Speaker 1: though the National Union of Miners and Management had not 476 00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:37,920 Speaker 1: been able to work out in agreement. Numerous collieries closed 477 00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:41,160 Speaker 1: over the next decade, including merther Vale, which closed on 478 00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:46,320 Speaker 1: August nineteen eighty nine. The industry was privatized again in 479 00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:50,440 Speaker 1: nineteen nine four. The last of Wales's deep coal mines 480 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:54,200 Speaker 1: closed in two thousand eight. A few remaining open pit 481 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:58,520 Speaker 1: and drift mines still operate in Wales today. Okay, when 482 00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,880 Speaker 1: the murther Veil mine closed, that had been a major 483 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:05,480 Speaker 1: employer in Abervan. So that led to all of the 484 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:08,120 Speaker 1: kinds of social and economic problems that happened when a 485 00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:12,240 Speaker 1: place as major employer goes away, and that had actually 486 00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:13,800 Speaker 1: been one of the things that was discussed in the 487 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:17,000 Speaker 1: context of this disaster. People feeling like they should have 488 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:19,480 Speaker 1: made a much bigger fuss about those tips, but they 489 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:21,760 Speaker 1: were afraid that if they did, the mind would just 490 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:24,880 Speaker 1: close and then they would have a tip above their 491 00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:28,560 Speaker 1: town and no job, and that I think compounded the 492 00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:32,000 Speaker 1: guilt for a lot of people, like did I contribute 493 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:34,760 Speaker 1: to this by not making a bigger a bigger fuss 494 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:39,760 Speaker 1: about the tips? There are still tips scattered around Wales 495 00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:41,640 Speaker 1: and around the rest of the world in places that 496 00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:44,240 Speaker 1: there are coal mines. Some of them that were determined 497 00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:46,920 Speaker 1: to be unsafe have been removed. The ones that were 498 00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:50,080 Speaker 1: above Abervan were removed at the request of the residents. 499 00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:54,200 Speaker 1: Eventually others of them have been landscaped over, but the 500 00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:57,320 Speaker 1: disposal of mine waste continues to be an issue anywhere 501 00:29:57,320 --> 00:30:01,040 Speaker 1: in the world that there are minds like there are 502 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:04,800 Speaker 1: still lots of minds and are lots of tips uh 503 00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:07,080 Speaker 1: in existence around the world today. Some of them are 504 00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:10,440 Speaker 1: a lot cleaner than they used to be um and 505 00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:12,360 Speaker 1: the idea is, well, one day if we close the 506 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:13,920 Speaker 1: mind we can fill it in with all of this 507 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:18,680 Speaker 1: removed rubble. But yeah, there's like a whole series of 508 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:23,320 Speaker 1: environmental and economic issues connected to what to do with 509 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:25,640 Speaker 1: the other stuff that comes out of the coal mine 510 00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:30,400 Speaker 1: in addition to the coal. Yeah, it's it is a 511 00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:35,880 Speaker 1: multi layered problem. Uh. That's a depressing episode, Tracy. I know. 512 00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:39,080 Speaker 1: I'm really sorry. I'm sorry I wrote such a depressing episode. 513 00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:44,600 Speaker 1: I really I have I think four different episodes that 514 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:49,840 Speaker 1: I was requesting and grabbing the research for, and like 515 00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:51,360 Speaker 1: I said at the top of the show, like I 516 00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:53,840 Speaker 1: read this one sentence reference to this and kind of 517 00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:56,680 Speaker 1: went okay, But now this is all I can think about, 518 00:30:56,720 --> 00:30:58,640 Speaker 1: and I'm not going to stop thinking about it until 519 00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:03,520 Speaker 1: I find out what happened and then tell everyone, Um, 520 00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:07,400 Speaker 1: do you have listener mail? That's less uh depressing? Maybe 521 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:10,720 Speaker 1: kind of. I have a couple of corrections. First, Um, 522 00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:14,160 Speaker 1: in our recent episode about the Fort Shaw Indian schoolgirls 523 00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:18,400 Speaker 1: basketball team, for reasons that are inexplicable to me, I 524 00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:21,800 Speaker 1: said that the town of Springfield was in Connecticut when 525 00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:24,480 Speaker 1: it's in Massachusetts. I don't know what was going on there. 526 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:28,760 Speaker 1: I just messed that up. Well, maybe it's the Simpsons 527 00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:31,560 Speaker 1: thing where there is a springfield in every state. Yeah, 528 00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:33,920 Speaker 1: there are lots of springfield. Like, that's why the Simpsons 529 00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:36,600 Speaker 1: will never say what state they're in and springfield, because 530 00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:38,760 Speaker 1: there is a springfield in every state. They never have to. 531 00:31:39,240 --> 00:31:41,920 Speaker 1: My brain auto completed the wrong state for some reason. 532 00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:46,760 Speaker 1: My other correction is that in our episode about the 533 00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:50,800 Speaker 1: Three Women from the Protestant Reformation, I said that the 534 00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:54,400 Speaker 1: Great Schism took place in fifteen o four. It did not. 535 00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:57,520 Speaker 1: It took place in ten fifty four, and that was 536 00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:00,520 Speaker 1: right in the notes. So it is another They're awesome 537 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:04,360 Speaker 1: example of Tracy saying different words than what was directly 538 00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:07,880 Speaker 1: in front of my face. Um numbers always tripped me up. 539 00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:09,880 Speaker 1: I'll say, my brain will just shuffle them for me 540 00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:13,320 Speaker 1: and will happen at different times on the world stage. 541 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:15,280 Speaker 1: But yeah, when when we had that whole deal in 542 00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:19,200 Speaker 1: the Esther Cox Great Amorous Mystery episode where I said 543 00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:22,760 Speaker 1: that her mother died before she was born. When I 544 00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:26,400 Speaker 1: was tweeting corrections about that, I was like, other popular 545 00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:30,000 Speaker 1: misspeaks on our show are changing the first two digits 546 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:33,440 Speaker 1: of any year to nineteen because that also happens over 547 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:36,120 Speaker 1: and over. Yeah, I'll change him to any year, my 548 00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:40,600 Speaker 1: brain just goes, let's just shuffle these. Yes, I also 549 00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:45,160 Speaker 1: shuffled months before in August. My brain will flip. You 550 00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:48,280 Speaker 1: would think you would think after four years of doing this, 551 00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:51,880 Speaker 1: we would be uh better at at saying things that 552 00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:55,320 Speaker 1: are directly in front of our notes. So, yeah, the 553 00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:58,160 Speaker 1: Great Schism was five hundred years earlier than I said 554 00:32:58,160 --> 00:32:59,720 Speaker 1: it was, which was part of the point of it 555 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:02,800 Speaker 1: been being in that episode. So that's my correction corner 556 00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:05,880 Speaker 1: for the day. I also have actual mail. It's brief 557 00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:08,840 Speaker 1: because I also had corrections to talk about. Paul has 558 00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:12,640 Speaker 1: written to us about Theodosia Burr Austin. Paul says, I'm 559 00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:15,760 Speaker 1: listening to the podcast and by your predecessor predecessors about 560 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:20,400 Speaker 1: Burr's conspiracy. They dropped very interesting detail. Many of Burr's 561 00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:23,600 Speaker 1: personal papers were lost when Theodosia was lost at sea. 562 00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:27,640 Speaker 1: So the disappearance of Theodosia was the disappearance of Theodosia 563 00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:30,920 Speaker 1: part of a broader scheme to hide forever the truth 564 00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:35,959 Speaker 1: about Burr's conspiracy. One more theory, Paul. Thanks Paul. I 565 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:38,560 Speaker 1: did mean to mention that in the episode about Theodosia 566 00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:42,840 Speaker 1: she had among her personal effects, a lot of her 567 00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:46,520 Speaker 1: father's personal and professional papers, and they were all sealed 568 00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:50,960 Speaker 1: in tin boxes. Her the the ten the material, not 569 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:54,680 Speaker 1: ten the number UM. Her father had left them in 570 00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:56,520 Speaker 1: his care when he had fled to Europe, and she 571 00:33:56,640 --> 00:33:59,560 Speaker 1: was bringing them back to him aboard the Patriot when 572 00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:03,680 Speaker 1: the Patriot it disappeared. UM. This was actually given as 573 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:07,080 Speaker 1: a reason why one of his earliest biographers wrote his 574 00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:09,960 Speaker 1: biography while he was still alive. He was basically like, 575 00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:12,640 Speaker 1: we gotta do this now because all the man's papers 576 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:16,240 Speaker 1: were lost. So thank you Paul for writing to bring 577 00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:18,160 Speaker 1: that up. If you would like to try to us, 578 00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:20,839 Speaker 1: we're a history podcast at how Stuff Works dot com. 579 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,880 Speaker 1: We're also at missed in History all over social media, 580 00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:26,600 Speaker 1: so we're at Facebook dot com slash miss in History. 581 00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:29,200 Speaker 1: Our Twitter is missed in History. Our Pinterest and our 582 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:31,920 Speaker 1: Instagram are missed in History. You can also come to 583 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:35,040 Speaker 1: our website, which is missed in History dot com, where 584 00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:37,400 Speaker 1: you will find show notes for all of the episodes 585 00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:40,680 Speaker 1: that we have done together Holly and I. You will 586 00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:44,840 Speaker 1: also find a searchable archive of all of our previous episodes. 587 00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:48,040 Speaker 1: So come and see us at missed in History dot 588 00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:55,800 Speaker 1: com for more on this and thousands of other topics 589 00:34:56,040 --> 00:35:05,759 Speaker 1: is how st works dot com.