Slag heaps or terrils are to be found all around Charleroi. I climbed the Terril de St.Théodore just outside the city center and the giant hill at Bois du Cazier
Climbing the Terril de St. Théodore.
View from Terril de St. Théodore.
Downhill from Terril de St. Théodore
Terril in the Bois du Cazier behind the museum.
Elevators to the mine in Marcinelle
The former coal mine Bois du Cazier is situated only a short distance south of Marcinelle. At the site now is a mining and glass museum. More interesting than the museum I found the enormous slag heap. You walk on the left passed the museum and you follow the path uphill. First you pass a park where they have planted trees from all the countries where the miners came from. Then the path circles around the hill and on top you have a beautiful view over Marcinelle and Charleroi.
On August 22, 1956, two Italian mine workers pushed a full wagon into the elevator pushing out an empty wagon on the other side. This was a routine practice. But this day, at 975 meters below the surface, things went terribly wrong. Due to a mechanical failure the empty wagon got stuck while it was halfway outside the elevator. Suddenly the elevator went up both wagons hanging halfway out. They crashed into an oil-pipe, telephone lines, a pipe with pressed air and an electrical line with 3000 volts on it. The sparks, oil and pressed air set the mine shaft on fire. One of the two miners managed to escape through another shaft, but the other one left behind. The fire was unstoppable. That day 262 miners died.
