I took one of the most famous photos of the Aberfan disaster – it still haunts me

This story contains upsetting details that some may find distressing

It's one of the most famous photographs capturing the aftermath of the Aberfan disaster, but its success has come to haunt the man who took it.

Mel Parry was an 18-year-old apprentice photographer with the Merthyr Express newspaper when he found himself in the south Wales village on his way to work.

He began documenting one of the darkest days in Welsh history when a colliery spoil tip collapsed, slid down a mountain and engulfed the village's primary school and surrounding houses, killing 116 children and 28 adults and leaving a lasting scar in Wales.

In the photo, PC Victor Jones can be seen carrying eight-year-old Susan Maybank to safety. The woman to the right is Susan's aunt.

Parry snapped the image but "wished he'd never taken it", later abandoning his career as a photographer.

In December 1966, the picture won the British News Photographer of the Year award, but Parry said he put the success of the image down to chance.

He had been on a bus travelling through Aberfan when someone shouted that the school had fallen down.

"I happened to be the person on the spot, unfortunately."

With only one roll of film in his camera, he borrowed more from the chemist and began taking photos almost immediately.

One frame would come to define the tragedy on newspaper front pages around the world, though Parry did not realise it at the time.

"I never, ever remember taking it.

"The camera was above my head and upside down. I couldn't see what I was taking," he said.

The PC in the image was Aberfan's local officer.

Susan Maybank is in his arms. Her body is limp and she is barefoot.

Around them a crowd of relatives and rescuers look on.

The film was rushed away by a young Western Mail reporter, Alun Michael, who would later become Wales' first first minister - he'd raced to the scene from Cardiff.

Parry spotted his colleague from the sister paper.

"He threw the film across the line of miners.

"He didn't even know he'd taken it," Michael recalls.

Within hours, the photograph was printed on the front page of the South Wales Echo, and soon after appeared in newspapers around the world.

The picture brought recognition for Parry, making him the youngest ever recipient of the British News Photographer of the Year award.

But the success always sat uneasy with him and contributed to his decision to abandon his photography career in the early 1970s.

"It's a tragedy and unfortunately I ended up gaining from it," he said.

"I wish I'd never taken it."

Days after the disaster, when his journalistic instinct had subsided, the enormity of the tragedy became clear.

He had family in Aberfan and lost two cousins in the disaster.

"They were digging people out and unfortunately some were alive and some were dead.

"It's not something I would ever, ever want to go through again," Parry said.

Ahead of the 60th anniversary of the Aberfan disaster, Parry's photograph remains one of the defining images of the tragedy.

Will Troughton, curator of photography at the National Library of Wales, said its power lies in both its composition and its emotion.

"It is a very strong composition, which really makes people look at the picture and take in the detail.

"Your eye is drawn along the two rows of people and it's then you see the policeman holding the little girl."

He added that the people are "looking stunned, they don't know what's happening, and in the middle of it, you've got this spark of hope".

Michael said the photograph captured something beyond the rescue of Susan that day.

"It's a memory of the horror... but also the sense of pride."

Mine rescue workers and volunteers from across south Wales had rushed to help, digging through the debris.

That sense of community "is one of the biggest strengths we have as a nation," Michael added.

Susan Maybank survived the disaster and was later reunited for tea with PC Jones and Parry.

She died in 2025, and her family has chosen not to speak publicly.

The image remains inescapable for Parry as it reappears with every anniversary and retelling of the Aberfan disaster.

"As I get older I get fed up with seeing the photograph.

"But when people see that photograph they can remember Aberfan and they can remember what was there, and I hope that out of that something good will come."

After being interviewed by BBC Wales, Parry decided to donate the photography award he received to Amgueddfa Cymru, Wales's national museum, which has collected items associated with the Aberfan disaster.