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SUBWAYMore than 7,500 people have died from the virus in Wales, and former mining communities are among the hardest hit by the pandemic. In the final part of his mental health blockade series, Joe shute reports here:
Andrew Thomas has witnessed two tragedies that have gripped the Welsh valleys in his lifetime. The first came on October 21, 1966, when he was a six-year-old at Pantglas Primary School in Aberfan.
On that day that will remain forever etched in your mind and in the history of the area, the collapse of a coal mine spoil caused a landslide that buried the school and destroyed nearby houses, killing 144 people, 116 of them which were Andrew’s classmates.
He was lucky to be in a room on the other side of the school when the landslide occurred, climbing out a window to get to safety. But his older brother, Bernard, was one of those buried under the rubble.
Bernard survived, but struggled his entire life with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), something that Andrew (pictured above) has also suffered from.
Then, a year ago, a new slow-motion disaster swept through the valleys in the form of Covid-19. This January, Bernard lost his life to the virus at the age of 63. Two cousins also died, and the nearby town of Merthyr Tydfil persistently recorded one of the highest rates in Wales.
Read the full piece here.
You can read the first part here, the second part here, and the third part here.
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