Seventy years after the Bois du Cazier coal mine disaster, communities are honouring the victims. Hundreds of people died in the disaster, the worst in Belgium’s history, including 33 from the Hageland and Zuiderkempen regions. A podcast, an exhibition and commemorative ceremonies pay tribute to the locals who lost their lives.
A total of 262 people were killed on 8 August 1956 at the mine in Marcinelle, near Charleroi. A hoist mechanism in one of the shafts was started before a coal wagon had been properly loaded, shortly after 8.00. Electric cables ruptured, starting a fire in the shaft. The cage also ruptured oil and air pipes, making the fire worse and destroying the winch mechanism.
The victims included 96 Belgians and 136 Italians, who were in Belgium under a guest worker programme that recruited people from abroad to work in the mines. Among the Belgian victims were 33 people from Tremelo, Begijnendijk and surrounding municipalities.
“Seventy years ago, a coach would leave here every day, taking workers to Marcinelle,” says Begijnendijk mayor Bob Michiels. “They earned more at the Marcinelle mine than in the mines of the Kempen. And there wasn’t enough work in the Hageland and the Zuiderkempen, so people had to look for jobs further afield.”
This week, Yasmin Dierickx presented the first episode of a podcast about her great-grandfather Louis Op de Beek, one of the victims of the disaster. She explores who he was and the impact of the disaster on her family.
Seventy years ago, a coach would leave here every day, taking workers to Marcinelle
“I didn’t really know who my great-grandfather was,” she says. “The only thing I knew about him was related to the day of the disaster itself. The podcast provides an opportunity to discover who he actually was: as a father, as a husband and as a friend.”
A memorial service will take place in Betekom on Saturday, followed by the opening of an exhibition featuring a series of portraits of the local victims based on historical photographs.
A delegation of family members and local councillors will also travel to Marcinelle to attend the national ceremony at the site of the mine, which has been a monument and museum since 2002. “Every year, with Tremelo, we organise a coach trip to Marcinelle to keep the memory of the victims alive,” says Michiels.
