Drag to turn the globe

Events/Disaster · 1906

Courrieres coal mine disaster

Disaster, 10 March 1906, France.

What happened

A fire and then an explosion in the Courrieres mines in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais coalfield killed 1,099 people by the official count. It remains the worst industrial accident of its kind in Europe.1,2

Why it matters

The source calls it the most serious accident of its kind in Europe.1,2

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Bulli Colliery explosion

    It followed a strike that ended in February 1887, and the inquiry blamed lax safety practice by both management and miners.3,4

  2. Dudley Colliery explosion

    The regulator describes the mine as dry and dusty, with 292 workers.5,6

  3. Greta Colliery fire

    The regulator uses it as a case study; seven earlier gob fires there had not killed anyone.7,8

  4. Courrieres mine disaster

    Courrieres mine disaster. Wikidata records 1099 deaths.9

  5. Peak year for US coal mining deaths

    The figure shows the scale of the safety problem before federal regulation.10,11

  6. Senghenydd colliery disaster

    It led to tighter mine safety enforcement in Britain.12,13,14

  7. Mineral Leasing Act

    The BLM says that since 1920 the federal government has leased fuels and certain other minerals, while locatable minerals stay under the 1872 Mining Law.15,16

  8. Mother Jones dies

    Mother Jones dies (date from Wikidata).17

Open the full timeline

Where next

Events

An example ofBois du Cazier fire at MarcinelleCourrieres killed 1,099 in 1906. Marcinelle killed 262 in 1956.1An example ofBenxihu colliery explosionEurope's worst coal accident, until Benxihu killed an estimated 1,549 in 1942.18ExamplesSoma coal mine disasterSoma's 301 deaths in 2014 were mostly from carbon monoxide. Courrieres killed 1,099.19

Sources

  1. 10 mars 1906 : Courrieres-les-Morts Fondation Jean-Jaures
  2. Courrières (item Q323072), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  3. 1887 Bulli Colliery Explosion case study (Learning from disasters) NSW Resources Regulator
  4. Bulli (item Q4996904), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  5. 1898 Dudley Colliery case study (Learning from disasters) NSW Resources Regulator
  6. Dudley (item Q5311786), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  7. 1900 Greta Colliery Fire case study (Learning from disasters) NSW Resources Regulator
  8. Greta (item Q5607629), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  9. Wikidata item Q1550228 (Courrieres mine disaster)
  10. Coal fatalities, 1900 to date US Mine Safety and Health Administration
  11. United States (item Q30), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  12. Miners' lives at 5.5p each: the Government Enquiry into the 1913 Senghenydd mine disaster Amgueddfa Cymru, Museum Wales
  13. Site dedicated to thousands of lives lost officially recognised (12 Mar 2024) Cadw (Welsh Government)
  14. Senghenydd (item Q3404686), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  15. About Mining and Minerals US Bureau of Land Management
  16. Washington, D.C. (item Q61), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  17. Wikidata item Q107082 (Mother Jones)
  18. The world's worst coal mining disasters (China feature, 2026) Mining Technology
  19. Soma mining disaster: a ten-year fight for justice and accountability Transparency International

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

Keep exploring

Stories with these minerals

History of miningThe cost underground: mining disasters and the laws they forced1887-2020History of miningUranium: from silver mine waste to the atomic age1789-2025The world runs on rockThe BatteryInside a lithium-ion cellThe Big Hole at Kimberley, South Africa, seen from above, with water at the bottomMining historyThe Big Hole, KimberleyDiamonds · South Africa

All mining storiesThe world runs on rockAll mineralsMining by country

Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: The Big Hole by Rudolph Botha, CC BY-SA 3.0. Pictures: Mijnramp Bois du Caizier, Marcinelle, België. Schacht, Rossem, Wim van / Anefo / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0); The laboratories of Marie and Pierre Curie, Paris: room where experiments on uranium ore took place. Photograph, ca. 1900., Unknown (Wellcome Collection) (Public Domain Mark 1.0).