The British cargo ship, Fort...

history · 14 April 1941 · 83 years ago

The British cargo ship, Fort Stikine, carrying 1,400 tons of explosives and 124 gold bars worth £1 million, caught fire in Bombay harbour, India and exploded, showering the docks with blazing debris. The blast and tidal wave which followed sank four ships and damage a further eleven, one of which, a troopship, was hurled out of the water and onto the roof of a warehouse. Half an hour later, the wreck of the Fort Stikine was devastated by a second massive explosion which threw debris 3,000 feet into the air and over a square mile of the docks and city. The two explosions killed 231 and injured a further 476. The bodies of more than 500 dock workers and civilians were also recovered, another 1,000 people simply disappeared and 2,000 were hospitalised. Eleven ships were lost. In 1960 a dredger working in the harbour recovered a single gold bar. 

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