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The man who shot arguably essentially the most well-known {photograph} taken within the aftermath of the Aberfan catastrophe – which later went on to win the British News Photographer of the Year award in 1966 – has informed the BBC that the picture nonetheless “haunts” him in any case these years.
On October 21 1966, Mel Parry, an 18-year-old apprentice photographer with native outlet the Merthyr Express, was passing via the South Wales village of Aberfan on a bus when he was alerted to the catastrophe that had simply unfolded.
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A slag heap from a coal mine had come unfastened, sliding down the hillside and engulfing a part of Pantglas Junior School and a variety of homes within the village beneath.
In whole, 144 folks had been killed – 116 of them youngsters, principally aged 7-10, and 28 adults – by what the media described as a “tsunami of sludge”.
Parry headed to the catastrophe website and started photographing when he captured PC Victor Jones carrying eight-year-old Susan Maybank to security. In the picture, Maybank could be seen limp within the police constable’s arms whereas her aunt seems to be on the youngster in grief amid a background of crowds conducting the rescue effort.
Speaking to the BBC about his award-winning picture, Parry mentioned: “It’s a tragedy and unfortunately I ended up gaining from it,” including, “I wish I’d never taken it.”
In the days following the disaster, as the rescue effort continued, Parry – who had family in Aberfan – discovered that two of his cousins were among the victims. The disaster and loss of family members weighed heavily on Parry and, in the early 1970s, he gave up his career as a press photographer.
However, Parry wasn’t the only professional photographer to document what happened at Aberfan. Renowned Welsh photojournalist and Magnum Photos member, David Hurn, also had boots on the ground, as did American photojournalist IC Rapoport.
The latter headed to the South Wales mining town just days after the tragedy on assignment with Life magazine, later publishing the frames he captured in his book Aberfan: The Days After.
With the 60th anniversary of the Aberfan Disaster fast approaching, Museum Wales (Amgueddfa Cymru) plans to commemorate it on October 01 with a series of exhibitions at several of its museums.
Ceri Thompson, curator of coal mining collections at Museum Wales, told me that David Hurn’s images will be on show, as will Mel Parry’s award-winning shot.
More details about the commemorative exhibitions and their locations will be available on the Museum Wales website.
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