Among the 262 victims of the Bois du Cazier disaster on August 8, 1956, 14 rested without identification in the honor lawn of the Marcinelle cemetery. In 2019, at the request of Michele Cicora, son of a never-identified victim, the Bois du Cazier initiated unprecedented steps to exhume these 'unknowns'.
Since then, extensive scientific work has gradually been restoring their names: Oscar Pellegrims in 2022, Dante Di Quilio and Rocco Ceccomancini in 2024, Reinhold Heller in 2025, followed by Pietro Basso and Secondo Petronio in 2026.
Today, a new victim has been identified: Pompeo Bruno. Born on April 2, 1928, in Racale, Puglia, he arrived in Belgium on July 28, 1951, and worked in several coal mines, including the Bois du Cazier pit, where he met his tragic end on August 8, 1956.
These identifications are made possible by the work of the INCC, anthropologists, odontologists, and forensic experts, mobilized since 2021. Experts also commend the quality of the work carried out in 1956 under urgent circumstances.
The Bois du Cazier warmly thanks the family of Pompeo Bruno for agreeing to provide a DNA sample, as well as all those who work tirelessly to restore the identities of these men who came to work in Belgium in the hope of a better life.
