On March 5, 1968, a fire broke out in the Belle Isle Salt Mine in St. Mary Parish, trapping twenty-one men 1200 feet underground with their only escape engulfed in flames. Coal miners from Kentucky flew in to help with the attempted rescue, but the men could not be saved. Those who lost their lives in 1968 were Clifford James Benoit, Michael Joseph Boudreaux, Luke Milton Boutte, Roy P. Byron, John Henry Christensen, Jr., Louis Roy Frilot, Paul J. C. Granger, Wilbur Garfield Jenkins, Minos J. Langlinais, Jr., Alcide Olivier, Jr., Arthur J. Olivier, Jr., Dallas Anatole Olivier, Percy Joseph Peltier, Hilton Joseph Primeaux, Dennis T. Romero, Leroy Sanchez, Burnice Homer Smith, Harris Joseph Touchet, Harry Joseph Touchet, Leroy Trahan, and Chester Joseph Vice. Others who died at Belle Isle were Paul Richard Collins, Donald Mayon, Sr., Amedee Charles Olivier, Adam Sampay, Herman Zimmerman, Joseph M. Culter, Earl Dennis Schannette, Wilson Jones, Rigsby Babineaux, and David Marks, Jr. The loss also honors the rescue men who risked their lives and the families who suffered loss.
