Video taking off 16x its usual first day

Aberfan survivor Viv Jones: "Coming here is very difficult"

In 5 News' anniversary report, Jones remembers holding his younger brother at the scene as the King leads the village's remembrance.

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5 News Story of October 22, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 119,663 views a day, 16 times a normal first day on this channel (7,430).

Aberfan disaster: Sixty years on from the disaster that killed 116 children and 28 adults

Things we can learn from the video

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0:00A royal motorcade arrives in Aberfan, with crowds lining the village streets.
0:12Archive footage recalls the 1966 coal tip collapse onto the junior school, in which 144 people died.
0:24Survivor Viv Jones describes reaching the scene and holding his dying younger brother.
1:36Footage of Queen Elizabeth II's visit, with the report noting her delay became a lasting regret.
1:54King Charles III speaks about the community's strength and resilience.
2:36Jones says it is comforting that people still remember the victims.

Viv Jones was one of the first people to reach Pantglas Junior School in 1966, and he held his dying younger brother there. Sixty years later, he still asks himself the same question every day. "Could I have cleaned his nose and helped him to breathe again?" he says in Simon Vigar's report for 5 News.

The report marks the anniversary of the Aberfan disaster, when a coal tip collapsed onto the village school and killed 116 children and 28 adults. Archive pictures from British Movietone show the aftermath. Jones also describes his mother's search for the woman who carried his brother away from the site.

King Charles III, Queen Camilla and Prince William joined the commemoration in the Welsh village. "Today we pause to remember what you can never forget," the King tells the community, praising a spirit he calls unconquerable. Vigar sets the visit beside footage of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in Aberfan, noting that her delay in going was later counted among her great regrets. According to the video's description, Prime Minister Andy Burnham also paid tribute in the House of Commons, having visited earlier in the week.

The report reached about 79,000 views in its first 11 hours, far more than the channel's regular videos usually draw in a full day. Many commenters write about where they were when they heard the news, often as children. Some say they first learned of Aberfan through The Crown and then asked their parents about it.

Jones says returning is hard, "but I know it has to be done." The report ends at the cemetery, among memorial badges, flowers and a card signed "Charles R".

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