Memorial to the Marcinelle mining disaster (1957)

Every day, a bus with 38 miners left the region for the Bois de Cazier in Marcinelle. Also on that Wednesday, August 8, 1956, the day that the disaster struck every Belgian with bewilderment and unspeakable sorrow. Only five miners would return. Thirty-three were killed by fire and suffocation in the 'Taille de Flamins' at a depth of 1,035 metres. A miner who had been admitted to a nearby hospital would remain posted at the well upon his discharge, unable to leave as long as comrades were still underground. Thirteen villages in the region were affected. Baal, Betekom, Aarschot, Tremelo and Itegem suffered the heaviest losses. The number of orphans and widows increased by a hundred that day.
The disaster was the largest in Belgian history. It was also the second biggest Western European disaster of the 20th century. The bodies of the unidentified miners were buried on the Betekom burial. In 1957, a memorial monument was erected on their grave in the form of a miner's lamp.

Jan Rymenams