# 60 years on, harrowing story of how a teenage nurse sang to a young boy killed in Aberfan: ROBERT HARDMAN

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/60-years-on-harrowing-story-of-how-a-teenage-nurse-sang-to-a-young-boy-killed-in-aberfan-robert-hardman/
- Published: 2026-10-21T22:41:30+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-21T23:14:54+00:00
- Original publisher: Daily Mail (publisher lean: Right)
- Original article: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16228241/60-years-teenage-nurse-boy-killed-Aberfan-ROBERT-HARDMAN.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490
- Topics: World

## Key points

- Dianne Thomas recalls caring for an eight-year-old victim.
- Aberfan’s disaster killed 144 people, including 116 children.
- The royal family joined the 60th anniversary commemoration.

## Summary

Sixty years after the Aberfan disaster, former cadet nurse Dianne Thomas has spoken about caring for victims in a makeshift mortuary. At 18, she held and sang to an eight-year-old boy whose body she was preparing, a memory that captures the personal toll of the disaster and why the anniversary remains deeply significant in Wales.

On 21 October 1966, a coal tip collapsed, sending 150,000 tonnes of mud and slurry over Pantglas Junior School and nearby homes. Of the 144 people killed, 116 were children. Thomas later left nursing and worked in child protection; at the anniversary commemoration, King Charles, Queen Camilla and Prince William laid tributes at the memorial garden.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.