Courrières Mine Disaster

The “Courrières catastrophe”, in the cobweb of mineshafts below the villages mentioned in this article, was preceded by a lot of smoke and the detection of toxic gases in the mine in the days before the explosion. The company was warned by a union delegate, but refused to stop production: 1099 of the 1800 miners who were ordered to continue work despite the evident danger on 10 March 1906 died in the disaster. In contempt of the trapped miners, the company called off the rescue operation after only 3 days and walled up access to where the miners were trapped, in order to protect the remaining coal-faces from potential fire.

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