Four decades have passed since November 19, 1984. That Monday, like all the others, the residents of Fabero (León) got up with the intention of starting a new week and got to work, many between them in the mines that populated the region. Fabero-Sil Basin.
But this Monday was not just another, it became a day which, forty years later, still remains alive in our memories because eight of his neighbors did not return home after one of the most serious mining accidents recorded in the region.
The event took place after the entry of the workers of the first work shift of that day, in the Combustibles de Fabero company, of the Río Group. At that time, around 8:30 a.m., on the 17th floor south, a bag of firedamp exploded which accumulated over the weekend and which instantly killed three workers and injured nine others inside the gallery. After many hours of anguish and rescue, the injured were transferred to hospitals in Madrid where, in the following days, five more died. Four of them survived.
“It was a normal work day. We entered the pit and were somewhat delayed in the gallery as there was a breakdown. Suddenly there was an explosion and I lost power. I didn’t feel anything. A colleague came to pick me up and we went out,” he recalls. Genaro Álvarez, one of the survivors. He spent a month in the hospitalwith 25 percent of his body burned. Eight months later he returned, with great fear, to the bowels of the earth.
Eight companions did not succeed. They are Luciano Blanco, 41 years old, Tomás Abella, 36 years old, Adelino Alonso, 32 years old, Manuel García, 28 years old, Manuel Tejón, 26 years old, Ramiro Guerra and Emilio Álvarez, both 24 years old, and Santiago Álvarez, aged 24. only I was 21 years old.
Eight lives that the mine cost and which Fabero remembers this Tuesday, exactly forty years ago, with the inauguration of a Mine Memorial located in the same place where the exploitation was located, which is today a restored natural space. They settled there nine large stone monoliths, extracted from the Grande Taille de Fabero, one for each miner who died in this accident and another in memory of all those who lost their lives in the mine throughout a century of activity.
“We were a group of young boys and the invisible enemy was waiting for us,” says Andrés Calvo, another miner who survived the accident. “I helped my partner Genaro and I thought I was last. My surprise was when I came out and they asked me about the others. I didn’t listen to anyone. “They were like they were sedated,” he remembers. Moments that, year after year, every November 19, come to mind.
Calvo thanked the tribute organized by the Fabero Town Hall. “It’s a gesture of humanity. We will never forget our colleagues,” he declared enthusiastically at the foot of the monument which, from today onwards, will forever remember these eight men and all those who gave their lives in the farms, reports Ical.
Among those present were also colleagues from Combustibles de Fabero, who did not suffer the accident but whose lives were forever marked. Especially because they believe that this could have been avoided if the necessary safety measures had been taken. “I worked on maintenance and in the conditions the stand was left in that Friday, it should not have been entered on Monday. The turbine that evacuated the air was not working and that day there was already accumulated firedamp,” explains Tino Ramón. “There was no grisometer. There were some in other farms, but not in ours,” laments Jorge González, who was one of those responsible for evacuating the material left by his colleagues from the gallery. “There was still hair stuck to one of the covers,” he remembers, with tears in his eyes.
Pedro Monasterio, a member of the municipal corporation of Fabero, and who at the time was part of the works council, said that “every November 19, my heart breaks. The faces of all those children come to mind, we were children,” he said. “Today is also a day of joy because we recognize all our colleagues, all the Leonese miners,” he said.
Inauguration of the memorial
The mayor of Fabero, Mari Paz Martínez, was responsible for giving a short speech to inaugurate this space. “It’s an idea we’ve been thinking about since mining closed. It was a very hard moment and that’s why we decided it was time. Tribute to the eight, but also to all those who died, to those who suffered serious accidents and to those who still suffer from the carbon in their lungs,” he said. Martínez regretted that in Spain there is no administration paid tribute to those who gave so much to their country.
The councilor recalled other accidents that cost the lives of dozens of workers, such as those recorded at the María de Caboalles de Abajo well, in Villablino, where 10 miners died, or the six who died at the Emilio del Valle, in Santa Lucia de Gordon.
The moving event ended with the laying of a wreath in front of the ninth stone, on which there is a plaque in memory of all those who removed the coal. Candles and flowers were added to the wreath brought by the residents of Faber who, from today, now have a new space to remember that they are and always will be minors.
