
Marcinelle: the dangers migrants still carry
On the morning of 8 August 1956, men descended into the Bois du Cazier coal mine in Marcinelle, a working-class town near Charleroi in southern Belgium. Most expected to return home that evening. Some had left villages in Abruzzo, Sicily or Veneto only months earlier. Others had already spent years underground, chasing the promise that post-war Europe had made to its labourers: work, stability and a future. Instead, they entered one of the deadliest industrial disasters in European history. A fire broke out deep inside the mine after a mechanical failure. Smoke and carbon monoxide spread rapidly through the shafts. Rescue teams worked









