du Cazier disaster in Marcinelle, Belgium. A fire in the mines resulted in 262 deaths; of the 274 people working in Bois du Cazier on that morning, only twelve survived. 138 of the victims were Italian migrant workers. Jan 22, 1959: Knox Mine disaster at River Slope Mine, Port Griffith Luzerne County, Pennsylvania – flooding from the riverbed above works killed 12 miners October 28, 1958: Oglebay-Norton mine, Craigsville, West Virginia 14 died. 1960: Coalbrook mining disaster, South Africa, 437 died. 9 May 1960: Laobaidong colliery coal dust explosion Datong, China, 682 died. 7 July 1961: Dukla Coal Mine, Dolní Suchá, Czechoslovakia, Fire and carbon monoxide poisoning caused the deaths of 108 miners. 9 November 1963: Mitsui Miike Coal Mine disaster Mitsui Miike, Ōmuta, Fukuoka, Japan; 458 died. March 28, 1965: Several tailing dams at a copper mine failed during an earthquake, releasing water and slag which wiped out the town of El Cobre in Valparaíso Region, Chile; 350-400 miners and residents died. May 28, 1965: Dhanbad coal mine disaster took place in Jharkhand, India, killing over 300 miners. May 17, 1965: Cambrian Colliery in South Wales; 31 died. October 21, 1966: Aberfan Disaster was a catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil-tip that caused an avalanche in the Welsh village of Aberfan, engulfing Pantglas Junior School, killing 116 children and 28 adults. November 20, 1968: Farmington Mine Disaster in Farmington, West Virginia. 78 workers died. As a result of the disaster, the U.S. Congress passed the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969. 1972: Wankie coal mine disaster Wankie, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, 426 fatalities. 21 March 1973: Lofthouse Colliery disaster, West Yorkshire, England, seven fatalities. July 30, 1973: Markham Colliery disaster near Staveley, Derbyshire, England. 18 workers were killed and 11 seriously injured when a descending cage failed to slow at the bottom of the mine shaft. 27 December 1974: An explosion and a fire in a coal mine near Liévin, France kills 41 and injures a further six in the worst mining disaster in France since World War II. 27 December 1975: Chasnala mining disaster, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India, 372 miners died and another 130 contract workers are claimed to have died when water from adjacent mine gusted after the wall in between collapsed. October 16, 1981: A methane explosion in a coal mine owned by Kokutan Yubari Mining Company near Yūbari, Hokkaido resulted in 93 deaths including 10 rescuers.