The
Courrières mine disaster, Europe's worst
mining accident, caused the death of 1,099 miners (including many children) in Northern
France on 10 March 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 de Courrières (founded in 1852) between the villages of
Méricourt (404 people killed),
Sallaumines (304 killed),
Billy-Montigny (114 people killed), and
Noyelles-sous-Lens (102 people killed) about 2 km (1 mi) to the east of
Lens, in the
Pas-de-Calais département (about 220 km, or 140 miles, north of
Paris).