In speech to mark the 60th anniversary of a mining accident in Belgium in which 136 Italians were killed, Italy's president Sergio Mattarella called for greater workplace safety worldwide.
"I hope the memory of those Italian workers who died as martyrs abroad will keep providing an example of commitment and self-sacrifice and also will constantly spur nations to improve workplace safety throughout the world," Mattarella said in a statement.
A total of 262 out of 275 miners trapped underground died when a fire broke out at the Bois du Cazier colliery in the Belgian town of Marcinelle on 8 August 1956.
"The tragedy was one of the deadliest workplace incidents in Italian and European history," Mattarella said.
The mine manager received a six-month suspended sentence on appeal and the four other defendants were acquitted in a subsequent trial that was branded a farce by the victims' families.
The disaster prompted Rome to demand better work conditions for Italian guest workers who toiled in Belgium's mines after World War II to support their poverty-stricken families back home.
