On this day in 1906, the Courrières Mine Disaster, Europe's worst mining accident to date, occurred, killing 1,099 miners in Northern France and causing 46,000 workers to strike. Some survivors were trapped underground until April 4th.

This was the second-worst mining disaster in history, surpassed only by the Benxihu Colliery accident in China on April 26th, 1942, which killed 1,549 miners. The majority of the deaths and destruction were caused by an explosion of coal dust, which swept through the mine, however the cause of the explosion was never conclusively proven.

Around 500 miners were able to get to the surface in the hours after the explosion, however survivors trapped underground were found as late as April 4th.

On the incident, socialist politician Jean Jaurès wrote "It is a call for social justice that comes to the nation's representants from the depths of the burning mines. It is the harsh and suffering destiny of work that, once more, manifests itself to all. And would political action be something else than the sad game of ambitions and vanities if it didn't propose to itself the liberation of the workers' people, the organisation of a better life for those who work?".