Hundreds of individuals commemorated the 68th anniversary of the Bois du Cazier mining tragedy on Thursday in Marcinelle, Charleroi.
On 8 August 1956, a handling error sparked a fire inside the coal mine which caused 262 deaths, most of them immigrants. Every year, the site organises an event to mark one the worst mining disaster in Belgian history.
The 68th commemoration on Thursday brought together families and descendants of the victims, mining representatives, Belgian and Italian political figures, trade union representatives and ordinary citizens..
This year, official organisers of the Bois du Cazier commemoration paid special tribute to the 13 survivors of the disaster, all now deceased, during the day's speeches. An exhibition dedicated to them will run for several months at the site highlighting the psychological trauma they carried throughout their lives.
Other commemorations included 262 rings of the bell as a reminder of the number victims and laying flowers.
Marcinelle 8 August 1956. Credit: Belga
As with every year, numerous Italian visitors attended the commemoration day. Among the 262 victims of the disaster, 136 were of Italian nationality.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in a statement on Thursday that the 1956 tragedy "constitutes a key moment in the life of Italian communities around the world," while also paying tribute to the Belgian, Polish, Greek, German, French, Hungarian, British, Russian, Ukrainian and Algerian victims. He added that it is "above all, a European tragedy."
Il y a 66 ans : "tutti cadaveri" au Bois du Cazier, à Charleroi. 262 mineurs perdaient la vie en faisant leur travail... Commémoration sur les lieux de la catastrophe ce 8 août. Aujourd'hui encore, le profit sacrifie des vies. pic.twitter.com/K0z591YMiU
— FGTB (@syndicatFGTB) August 8, 2024
Tweet translation: "tutti cadaveri" [all corpses] at Bois du Cazier, Charleroi. 262 miners lost their lives while doing their job... Commemorations at the site of the disaster on 8 August. Profit still sacrifices lives today.
Among the attendees was the General-Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) Esther Lynch, who paid a special tribute by also drawing attention to the need for safer workplaces across Europe.
"It was an honour to lay a wreath in memory of the 262 miners, many of them immigrants, who lost their lives in the Marcinelle disaster," the ETUC chief said on social media. "We fight on for safer work in remembrance & determination: too many workers are still being killed at work across the EU."
