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7 August, 2006
Fifty years ago, on 8 August 1956, 262 coal miners at Bois du Cazier in the Belgian town of Marcinelle lost their lives in a gruesome chain of events inside a 975-metre mine shaft. On 8 August 2006, the timing of those events will be commemorating on the hour they occurred.
Beginning at 08h00, the time when a shaft elevator malfunctioned and crashed, clipping high-voltage electrical lines, a bell tower clock at Bois du Cazier will ring 262 times as the name of each victim is read. At 10h00, flowers will be laid at a monument at the mine that is dedicated to the many accidents that have occurred at Bois du Cazier since 1901. At 11h00, a ceremony will be held at the Marcinelle cemetery, followed by another commemoration at 12h30 at the mine site, now a museum.
The shaft elevator blocked the flow of fresh air and the resulting electrical explosion created a firestorm. Some of the 262 coal miners, including 136 Italian immigrants, died from the furnace-like firestorm caused by the blast, while others who may have found refuge from the fire died from subsequent carbon monoxide poisoning. The deadly day of 8 August 1956 at Bois du Cazier stands as the worst industrial accident in Belgium’s history.
The aftermath of this tragic worksite story is depicted in a book entitled “Tutti Cadaveri: The Trial of the Catastrophe at the Bois du Cazier in Marcinelle,” co-authored by Belgian FGTB trade union Federal Secretary Paul Lootens. The book’s title, “Tutti Cadaveri,” comes from the Italian rescuer who, after surfacing from the mine, said, tragically, “All corpses.”
This French language book, by Lootens and historians Marie-Louise De Roeck and Julie Urbain, was published only on 1 May 2006, but is already in its second printing. It is available from Aden Publishers for €22, and can be ordered by contacting Aden at [email protected], or calling +32 2534 46 61.
More information on the book, plus ordering information, can be found at www.aden.be/tutti_cadaveri.html..