Aberfan Disaster

Date: October 21, 1966 • Location: Aberfan, United Kingdom

A coal tip fell on the village of Aberfan, Wales, killing 144 people, mostly schoolchildren.

A spoil tip is a pile built of accumulated spoil – waste material removed during mining. Spoil tips are not formed of slag, but in some areas, such as England and Wales, they are referred to as slag heaps and sometimes as pit heaps. In Scotland the word bing is used. In North American English the term is mine dump or mine waste dump.