Around 300 people gathered on Tuesday morning to remember the victims of a gas explosion in the village of Ghislenghien in Hainaut Province 20 years ago. On 30 June 2004, 24 people died in the explosion on an industrial estate adjacent to the Tournai to Brussels motorway. On Tuesday relatives and friends of the victims held a minute of silence at the scene of the explosion.
On 30 July 2004, at exactly 8.57am, a high-pressure gas main exploded at Ghislenghien, a village not far from the town of Ath, in Hainaut Province. The gas main had been damaged by excavation work for the foundations of a new building that was to be constructed on the industrial estate. A flame shot around 200 metres up into the sky and was visible for several kilometres around the scene of the explosion. The fire raged for around 20 minutes.
24 people died in the disaster. They include 5 firefighters, a police officer and an employee of the utilities company Electrabel. A further 132 people were injured. The Ghislenghien disaster was one of the deadliest gas explosions in Belgian history. A day of national mourning was declared on 4 August 2004. In the aftermath of the disaster, Civil Protection Agency underwent structural changes and new emergency service assistance areas were created in order to professionalise and better coordinate fire and ambulance services in Belgium.