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Events/Disaster · 1956

Bois du Cazier fire at Marcinelle

Disaster, 1956-08-08, Belgium.

What happened

A fire at the Bois du Cazier coal mine at Marcinelle on 8 August 1956 killed 262 miners. Only 13 got out alive. An oil line ran between power cables, which helped cause the fire. The trial court acquitted all the accused on 1 October 1959.1,2,3,4

Why it matters

More than half of the dead were Italian. The acquittals in 1959 are criticised in the ETUI review.1,2,3,4

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Bayan Obo iron deposit found

    Bayan Obo is the source of much of China's rare earth supply.5,6

  2. Commonwealth bans iron ore exports

    The ban held back the Pilbara until 1960.7,8

  3. US Vice President Wallace visits the Kolyma gold camps

    The managers hid that gold was mined mainly by prisoners and misstated output.9,10

  4. Bois du Cazier fire at Marcinelle

    More than half of the dead were Italian. The acquittals in 1959 are criticised in the ETUI review.1,2,3,4

  5. Asbestos mining at Wittenoom ends

    The legacy is disease: the WA government says the remnants have already caused thousands of deaths among miners, residents and visitors.11,12,13

  6. Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act signed

    It set federal health and safety rules for coal mines.14,15

  7. Nixon ends dollar convertibility into gold

    Gold ceased to have a fixed dollar price.15,16

  8. TAZARA Railway opens

    TAZARA Railway opens.17

Open the full timeline

Where next

Events

An example ofCourrieres coal mine disasterHalf a century after Courrieres, Marcinelle killed 262. More than half were Italian.1An example ofSenghenydd colliery disasterMarcinelle killed 262 in 1956. Britain's Senghenydd killed 439 in 1913.18ExamplesCoalbrook colliery collapseCoalbrook buried 437 in 1960. Marcinelle killed 262 four years earlier.1

Sources

  1. Crime and non-punishment: how the justice system failed the Marcinelle dead European Trade Union Institute (HESA newsletter 30)
  2. Worst Belgian industrial disaster: 8 August 1956 IndustriALL Global Union (ICEM archive)
  3. Today in History: Nearly 300 miners killed in the Marcinelle coal mine disaster (8 Aug 2023) The Brussels Times
  4. Marcinelle disaster (item Q16874544), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  5. Bulletin 2143, Bayan Obo: Introduction US Geological Survey
  6. Bayan Obo Mining District (item Q8895769), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  7. Iron Ore (Mining and Energy Western Australia exhibition) State Library of Western Australia
  8. Canberra (item Q3114), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  9. Three Days in Auschwitz without Gas Chambers: Henry A. Wallace Visit to Magadan in 1944 Wilson Center
  10. Wikidata item Q7968 (Magadan)
  11. Mining and Energy Western Australia: Asbestos (exhibition page) State Library of Western Australia
  12. Information on the former town of Wittenoom (brochure PDF) Government of Western Australia
  13. Wittenoom (item Q3569521), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  14. Statement on signing the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 (30 Dec 1969) American Presidency Project (UC Santa Barbara)
  15. Washington, D.C. (item Q61), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  16. Nixon and the End of the Bretton Woods System, 1971-1973 US Department of State, Office of the Historian
  17. Wikidata item Q1432750 (TAZARA Railway opens)
  18. Miners' lives at 5.5p each: the Government Enquiry into the 1913 Senghenydd mine disaster Amgueddfa Cymru, Museum Wales

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.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: The Big Hole by Rudolph Botha, CC BY-SA 3.0. Pictures: Timna in de Negevwoestijn; rotspartij "de zuilen van Salomo", Poll, Willem van de / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Mijnramp Bois du Caizier, Marcinelle, België. Schacht, Rossem, Wim van / Anefo / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0).