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Reporter who covered Aberfan dies month after tragedy’s 50th anniversary

gareth-bowenA former regional daily journalist who was one of the first reporters on the scene of the Aberfan disaster has died aged 86.

Gareth Bowen, left, worked on the Western Mail and South Wales Echo, and was also the father of current BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen, pictured left.

As well as working for the two Cardiff-based sister titles, Gareth went on to work for BBC Wales.

While with the BBC, he was one of the first journalists to arrive at Aberfan, where 144 people, including 116 children died when a waste tip from a nearby colliery slipped down the mountainside.

Last month, the newspapers where Gareth worked marked the 50th anniversary of the disaster.

He met his wife Jennifer in the late 1950s, when she was working as a photographer at the Merthyr Express.

Shortly before his death, his son Jeremy said: “He’s 86 and has been suffering with vascular dementia for some time. He’s been in a care home in Cardiff for three years. He’s had a long illness and it’s coming to an end.”

The director of BBC Wales, Rhodri Talfan Davies, described Gareth as one of Wales’ most “distinguished and incisive radio journalists”.

He said: “He played a vital role in the development of BBC Wales’s news services over more than three decades as a reporter, producer and editor.

“His intense professionalism, coupled with a deep commitment to Wales and its people, was typified by his broadcasts from the Aberfan disaster 50 years ago this year.”

As well as Jeremy and Jennifer, he is survived by four other children – Nick, Matthew, Brigid and Charlotte – and 10 grandchildren.