Italy marks 70 years since the Marcinelle mining disaster

Rome and Brussels honour the 262 miners killed at Bois du Cazier, as 8 August becomes EU's new day of remembrance for workplace accident victims. Italy on Saturday marks the 70th anniversary of the Marcinelle mining disaster, one of the deadliest industrial accidents in post-war European history, with commemorations in Belgium and statements from the Italian government and the European Commission. The disaster struck on the morning of 8 August 1956 at the Bois du Cazier coal mine near Charleroi, in Belgium's Hainaut province. At around 08.10, a hoist was activated before a coal wagon had been fully loaded into the lift cage, severing an electrical cable, an oil pipe and a compressed-air line. The resulting fire spread through the wooden pit structures and upper galleries, while smoke and carbon monoxide overwhelmed workers more than 1,000 metres underground. Of the 274 men below ground that day, only 12 survived. Rescue efforts continued for two weeks until 22 August, when a returning rescuer confirmed that everyone still inside had perished. 136 Italian victims Of the 262 miners who died, 136 were Italian, alongside workers from Belgium, Poland, Greece, Germany, France, Hungary and elsewhere. Most of the Italians were guest workers who had arrived under a 1946 bilateral agreement in which Italy sent labourers to work the Walloon coalfields in exchange for coal shipments to Rome; roughly 140,000 Italians crossed the Alps for the mines between 1946 and 1956, often living in former prisoner-of-war barracks and facing open discrimination in housing. Two judicial proceedings followed the disaster: a trial court acquitted all defendants in 1959, before an appeal court in 1961 handed the mine's manager a six-month suspended sentence and a fine, while acquitting the others. The Bois du Cazier site is now a UNESCO World Heritage site and museum. European Day for the victims of workplace accidents This year's anniversary carries added significance: 8 August has been designated a new annual European Day for the victims of workplace accidents. European Commission vice-president Roxana Minzatu said the day responded to calls from the European Parliament and several member states, and that most of those who died at Marcinelle had gone to Belgium in search of work and a better future, never to return home. In a statement, she said the occasion would serve not only to commemorate Marcinelle and other workplace tragedies but to renew Europe's commitment to prevention, noting that more than 3,000 workers die in accidents across the EU each year, with an estimated 170,000 more deaths linked to work-related illness. Italian government marks anniversary Italy's prime minister Giorgia Meloni described the 70th anniversary of the tragedy as an occasion to reaffirm the dignity of labour, calling Marcinelle a permanent part of Italian and European collective memory and a symbol of the contribution millions of Italian emigrants made to the countries that took them in. Antonio Tajani, Italy's foreign minister and deputy premier, remembered the Italians who lost their lives in the tragedy as "men who left to build, through work, a better future for their children and to contribute to the rebirth of Italy." In a statement, Tajani said: "This day also belongs to those who were left behind: to the widows, orphans, and communities who transformed immense pain into the strength of memory and the courage to move forward."

WIRE — Rome and Brussels honour the 262 miners killed at Bois du Cazier, as 8 August becomes EU's new day of remembrance for workplace accident victims. Italy on Saturday marks the 70th anniversary of the Marcinelle mining disaster, one of the deadliest industrial accidents in post-war European history, with commemorations in Belgium and statements from the Italian government and the European Commission. The disaster struck on the morning of 8 August 1956 at the Bois du Cazier coal mine near Charleroi, in Belgium's Hainaut province. At around 08.10, a hoist was activated before a coal wagon had been fully loaded into the lift cage, severing an electrical cable, an oil pipe and a compressed-air line. The resulting fire spread through the wooden pit structures and upper galleries, while smoke and carbon monoxide overwhelmed workers more than 1,000 metres underground. Of the 274 men below ground that day, only 12 survived. Rescue efforts continued for two weeks until 22 August, when a returning rescuer confirmed that everyone still inside had perished. 136 Italian victims Of the 262 miners who died, 136 were Italian, alongside workers from Belgium, Poland, Greece, Germany, France, Hungary and elsewhere. Most of the Italians were guest workers who had arrived under a 1946 bilateral agreement in which Italy sent labourers to work the Walloon coalfields in exchange for coal shipments to Rome; roughly 140,000 Italians crossed the Alps for the mines between 1946 and 1956, often living in former prisoner-of-war barracks and facing open discrimination in housing. Two judicial proceedings followed the disaster: a trial court acquitted all defendants in 1959, before an appeal court in 1961 handed the mine's manager a six-month suspended sentence and a fine, while acquitting the others. The Bois du Cazier site is now a UNESCO World Heritage site and museum. European Day for the victims of workplace accidents This year's anniversary carries added significance: 8 August has been designated a new annual European Day for the victims of workplace accidents. European Commission vice-president Roxana Minzatu said the day responded to calls from the European Parliament and several member states, and that most of those who died at Marcinelle had gone to Belgium in search of work and a better future, never to return home. In a statement, she said the occasion would serve not only to commemorate Marcinelle and other workplace tragedies but to renew Europe's commitment to prevention, noting that more than 3,000 workers die in accidents across the EU each year, with an estimated 170,000 more deaths linked to work-related illness. Italian government marks anniversary Italy's prime minister Giorgia Meloni described the 70th anniversary of the tragedy as an occasion to reaffirm the dignity of labour, calling Marcinelle a permanent part of Italian and European collective memory and a symbol of the contribution millions of Italian emigrants made to the countries that took them in. Antonio Tajani, Italy's foreign minister and deputy premier, remembered the Italians who lost their lives in the tragedy as "men who left to build, through work, a better future for their children and to contribute to the rebirth of Italy." In a statement, Tajani said: "This day also belongs to those who were left behind: to the widows, orphans, and communities who transformed immense pain into the strength of memory and the courage to move forward."

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