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Aberfan teacher who rescued children dies aged 82

Getty Images Howell WilliamsGetty Images
Howell Williams smashed the glass above the classroom door which allowed pupils to escape

A teacher who smashed a window to help his students to safety during the 1966 Aberfan disaster has died aged 82.

Howell Williams, from Treharris, was just 25 when the colliery spoil tip collapsed, engulfing Pantglas Primary School on 21 October.

The disaster killed 144 people, including 116 children. Four teachers survived.

Mr Williams' son, Jonathan Williams, 53, said "he was a lovely man" but had "struggled" after the disaster.

Howell Williams died at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, Llantrisant, Rhondda Cynon Taf, on 29 March.

Jonathan Williams, who now lives in Radyr, Cardiff, said: "I think it changed him, I think he was a different man after 25 to how he was before.

"If it happened in the modern era, it would have been very different. There was no counselling then."

The newly qualified PE teacher helped many children escape by smashing a classroom window.

Getty Images The four surviving teachersGetty Images
Mr Williams was one of four teachers who survived the disaster, along with Mair Morgan, Hettie Williams and Rennie Williams

In the BBC programme Surviving Aberfan, survivor Bernard Thomas recounted how his life was saved by Mr Williams.

"My memory is of the other kids screaming," he had said.

"I looked around and I saw my teacher and I thought 'I'll get across to Mr Williams now' and he helped me out through the small panes of glass at the top of the classroom door."

Another Aberfan survivor, Gareth Jones, added: "The other teachers who survived - Hettie, Rennie and Mair - would sometimes see us upset and they would get sad too and give us a cwtch.

"Howell was different. He'd make you smile, say something funny, and that really helped too.

"He'd been through trauma like us kids, probably worse because he saw stuff he didn't tell us about. But his help and support was invaluable."

Gareth Jones
Aberfan survivor Gareth Jones says teacher Howell Williams was 'a gent' who made pupils smile

Pupil Dilys Pope, who was 10 at the time of the disaster, previously told the South Wales Argus: "My leg got caught in a desk and I could not move and my arm was hurting.

"The children were lying all over the place. The teacher, Mr Williams, was also on the floor. He managed to free himself and he smashed the window in the door with a stone."I climbed out and went round through the hall and then out through the window. I opened the classroom window and some of the children came out that way. The teacher got some of the children out and he told us to go home."

In 1997, Queen Elizabeth visited the village to help plant a flowering cherry tree in the garden of remembrance 30 years after the disaster.

At the time, Mr Williams spoke to BBC Wales Today's Melanie Doel.

He said: "I wasn't looking forward to today one little bit, I don't think anybody was, but now we've all met, I don't think there's been a tear, it's been quite a pleasant occasion. "