- [Narrator] In 1966, a disaster scarred a village
in South Wales.
What happened was unthinkable.
A coal tip on a mountain slope above the village
of Alba Van collapsed, crashing directly
into a local school below it.
In an instant, much of a village's generation was lost.
Many of those who survived were traumatized
for the rest of their lives, but what does this tragedy have
to do with Queen Elizabeth?
That's what episode three
of The Crown's third season deals with
as we see Queen Elizabeth grapple with what it means
to be the stoic figurehead of a nation
in the face of unimaginable tragedy.
It also shows how the events which followed
reportedly became one of the greatest regrets
of Queen Elizabeth's reign.
In this video, we're going to tell you more
about what happened some of the reasons why
and what happened afterwards.
As with everything in The Crown,
the episode was meticulously researched, but it is a drama,
so some creative license is used
to drive the personal stories.
Class is a recurring theme in this series of The Crown,
but it's never more pertinent than in this episode.
So to understand the story behind it,
you also need to understand the history of mining towns
and villages in South Wales.
From the 19th century until the early 20th century,
coal mining was crucial to Wales and parts
of the north of England.
Mines provided jobs which in turn created pockets
of mining communities spreading across areas
like the South Wales Valleys.
By the 1960s, mining was beginning to dwindle
due to competition from oil,
yet coal mining still fuelled the community of
not just Alba Van, but neighboring villages too.
Think of the mine as the central hub of this village.
If no one in your family worked there,
someone you knew definitely did.
It was dangerous work, but people assumed it was dangerous
for miners, not their families.
Surrounding these mines were huge tips built
from waste produced during the mining process.
The tips were known to slip.
In fact, there were three previous significant tip slides,
but none to the extent tip number seven did in 1966.
That tip in particular had concerned the people
of Alba Van for years because it was located
almost directly above Pantglas Junior School,
the local primary.
What's more, it was discovered the coal waste lay
on top of a mountain spring
which meant the whole thing was dangerously fluid.
At the time, the mines were run by the National Coal Board.
A statutory corporation set up by the British government
when mines were nationalized in 1947.
Three years before the disaster,
a waterworks engineer wrote to the coal board
about the danger that it posed.
Local councillors also warned of the danger.
Parents from Pantglas school signed a petition,
they were ignored.
- [Man] We've been telling everyone for years
those tips were dangerous.
- [Narrator] Here's what happened that day.
For weeks beforehand, the Mirtha Valley had been hit
by a torrential downpour, turning the tip to slurry.
Workers arrived in the morning
to find it had sunk dangerously by about 10 feet.
There were no phone lines working up there that day,
so workers hurried their way down the mountain
to warn bosses of the danger.
(people arguing)
But it was too late.
The tip began to fall at approximately 9:15 a.m.,
just as children had sat down on the morning
of what was the last day before half-term.
If the tip had fallen just 20 minutes earlier,
the story may well have been entirely different.
The teachers had just begun taking their attendance
when the landslide hit.
An avalanche of liquefied slurry tore down the mountain,
reaching speeds of 30 to 40 miles per hour.
Survivors who are inside the school
described hearing a thunderous noise like a jet plane
as the avalanche approached.
As had long been feared by those
who had warned the National Coal Board,
the mud crashed directly into the school
and many of the neighboring houses.
It happened so quickly, there was barely time to react.
As soon as news of the tragedy spread,
people from across South Wales arrived Alba Van to help.
Miners found themselves digging for their own children.
Initially, they worried about bringing
in mechanical diggers,
fearing their weight would crush anyone trapped underneath,
so many began digging with their bare hands.
Whenever anyone in the rescue efforts
thought they heard someone buried under the heap of dirt,
a whistle was blown, stopping everyone in their tracks.
(whistle blown)
While some children were pulled out alive,
the rescue effort was unimaginably difficult
due to the sheer amount of hardened slurry.
In the end, 116 children and 28 adults were found dead
and it took a week to find them all
because there was so much to dig through.
As shown in the episode,
the local Chapel became a makeshift mortuary.
In the show, Queen Elizabeth eventually visits Alba Van
following the threat of criticism from the press.
- The very last thing Emergency and Rescue Services need
when they're working against the clock is a Queen to arrive.
- [Narrator] In real life, it did indeed
take the Queen eight days to visit Alba Van.
Later in 2002, it was reported the Queen
said her biggest regret was not visiting Alba Van
immediately after the disaster.
Buckingham Palace has never confirmed nor denied this,
but the Queen, out of all the Royals,
has returned to Alba Van the most.
What you don't see in the episode is what happened later.
PTSD was common in those children
who did survive the disaster.
Many of them suffering from survivor's guilt
as they attempted to come to terms both
with the death of their friends
and with their own personal trauma.
Miners too, felt overwhelming guilt,
as did parents who wish they'd stop their children
from going to school that day.
Bereaved parents struggled
with even seeing other children out in the streets.
The entire village was in mourning.
The children who died became known
as Alba Van lost generation.
We see a taste of their grief and anger
towards the National Coal Board in the episode.
- Will you both accept responsibility?
(crowd shouting)
- [Narrator] This anger spilled
into the official inquest into the deaths.
One father shouted.
- Buried alive by the National Coal Board.
That's what I want to see written on my child's desk.
- [Narrator] Another person who didn't go to the site
of the disaster immediately was the chairman
of the National Coal Board, Lord Robins.
Preferring instead to continue
with a ceremony installing him as the Chancellor
of the University of Surrey.
The day after his eventual visit, he was interviewed
by a television news team claiming no one
from the board knew there was a spring underneath the tip.
The NCB resisted taking the blame,
claiming the disaster was down to the heavy rain
and other geological factors.
- National Coal Board cannot accept responsibility
for the weather.
- [Narrator] Ultimately, a tribunal placed the blame
for the disaster entirely with the NCB,
criticizing a complete lack of policy
when it came to dealing with the tips.
(light eerie music)
It was the largest tribunal in British history
with around 130 witnesses, yet no one was prosecuted
and no one from the board lost their job as a result.
Lord Robins publicly offered his resignation.
- But I felt the circumstances were such
that my resignation should be offered and therefore,
it's really a matter for the government to decide
whether they accept my resignation.
- [Narrator] But papers released decades later
revealed he had only done so
when he was assured his job was safe.
Not only did he remain in his post,
he was appointed to chair a committee
which made recommendations about health
and safety regulations.
In the years since the disaster,
it also emerged how badly the victims families were treated
as the NCB attempted to dodge responsibility.
A study from 2000 from the board and the government
of the day were extremely insensitive
to the victims' families.
Dr. Ian Machlin, one of the authors of the report
said victims families were treated as troublemakers
and there was further hurt still for those families.
A disaster fund set up by the mayor of Merthyr Tydfil
had drawn donations from all over the world
with a final total of around 1.75 million.
As legal battles over the fund continued,
residents from the village had begun a campaign
to remove the tips surrounding Alba Van,
fearing they could collapse once again,
but the NCB refused to take financial responsibility
for the removal of the tips.
In the end, the government took a 150,000
from the fund to make up the funds needed
to get rid of the tips.
It was yet another blow to the community,
described by the press as the second disaster
to befall Alba Van.
That money was only repaid in 1997,
but without accounting for inflation.
With inflation, that amount would have been
over a million pounds.
The Crown's writer, Peter Morgan said he had always planned
to cover Alba Van in the series.
The team behind the show worked with the people
of the village to ensure the story was told
with sensitivity, as well as to bring the history
to a wider, global audience.
The community was involved from the very beginning.
Some people who were relatives or neighbors
of those who died in a Berlin appeared
as extras in some scenes.
(mumbles) Sowen, male voice choir which was set up
after the disaster sings in the episode.
(male choir singing)
The team decided not to film in Alba Van itself,
choosing nearby Kumamon instead.
An empty school there became Pantglas,
while the towering tip was recreated in CGI.
A rain machine recreated the torrential downpour
which fell on the valleys
in the days leading up to the disaster.
More than 50 years on,
the trauma following the disaster still remains
as producers found when they held a public meeting
with people from the village.
Everyone at that meeting, on set and
at the subsequent screening of the episode held
in Alba Van were offered therapy.
It's important to remember the deep trauma Alba Van caused,
not just to the area, but to Wales as a whole
as it became a symbol of corporate negligence
towards the working classes.
Today, Alba Van is a very different place
to the village we see in The Crown.
The Mercer Vale (mumbles) closed in 1989,
as have most of the mines in South Wales
and the tips are long gone.
The school has been replaced by a memorial garden,
but the village has never forgotten
what happened there 53 years ago.
(light electronic music)