The Courrières mine disaster, Europe’s worst mining accident, caused the death of 1,099 miners in northern France on March 10, 1906. This disaster was surpassed only by the Benxihu Colliery accident in China on April 26, 1942, which killed 1,549 miners. A coaldust explosion, the cause of which is not known with certainty, devastated a coal mine operated by the Compagnie des mines de houille … Continue reading The Mining Disaster at Courrières