(Adnkronos) – The former Bois du Cazier mine in the Marcinelle district of Charleroi, Belgium, where a disaster killed 262 miners including 136 Italians in August 1956, “symbolises the sacrifice and dignity of workers,” Italy’s president Sergio Mattarella wrote on Tuesday during a visit to the site.
“I am moved to visit this place, which symbolises the sacrifice and dignity of workers,” Mattarella wrote in the visitors’ book at the site, which is now a museum.
“The magnitude of the tragedy of 8 August 1956, which devastated 262 families, including 136 Italian ones, gave it a very strong symbolic significance,” Mattarella continued.
Since 2001, Italy has marked the anniversary of the Bois du Cazier mining disaster with a National Day of Sacrifice for Italian Workers Around the World, Mattarella recalled.
“This so that by recalling the events at Bois du Cazier, the memory of all Italians who died while working abroad can be honoured,” Mattarella went on.
“It is with feelings of hope and sincere gratitude that I pay tribute to those who lost their lives, in the knowledge that the memory of events such as these forges a more just society that is more strongly rooted in the fundamental values that unite the peoples of Europe.”
Mattarella visited the Bois du Cazier site with Belgium’s King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, with whom he earlier toured the Royal Library in Brussels, accompanied by his daughter Laura.
