// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
From Aberfan to Manchester Arena, victims face 'disgraceful' fight for help
Cindy Butts, the independent public advocate, says victims' constant need to fight for support is a "stain on our society"
Sixty years since the Aberfan disaster, victims of major tragedies such as the Manchester Arena bombing say they still face a "disgraceful" struggle for support.
"I think it's a real stain on our society that we don't help people... at the worst time of their lives," said Cindy Butts, the independent public advocate for England and Wales.
For Jeff Edwards, the last child to be pulled alive from his classroom when a colliery spoil tip struck a primary school in Aberfan, the physical injuries healed but the psychological scars never did.
He says he had no support, and fears that this has not changed enough in the years that followed.
A total of 116 children and 28 adults were killed in the Aberfan disaster and Edwards says the consequences of the disaster remain a daily reality.
He was eight when a coal tip collapsed on Pantglas Junior School, and remembers waking up beneath the debris with the body of one of his friends resting on his shoulder.
Aged eight, Jeff Edwards was photographed in Aberfan after leaving hospital following the disaster in October 1966
"Lots of the children in my class died, so effectively all my friends had gone," he said.
"The psychological injuries really had the greatest burden upon us."