A CASE STUDY REPORT

ON

BOBAY DOCKS EXPLOSION

INDUSTRIAL SAFETY
18ME753

MOHAMMAD ASHPAQ

4PA19CS040
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

SL.NO CONTENTS PAGE NO

1 Executive Summary 1
2 Introduction 2
3 Detailed case study 3

3.1 Detailed information 3

3.2 Loss 4
3.3 Suburban relief 5
activities
3.4 Aftermath 5
4 Conclusion 6
5 References 7

LIST OF FIGURES

SL.NO FIGURE NAME PAGE NO

Fig.3.1 Ss Fort Stikine 4

BOMBAY DOCKS EXPLOSION

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This case study gives details information about the Bombay docks explosion that happened
in 1994.The ship SS fort Stikine is a huge cargo vessel that was built in Canada and ordered
by the American war shipping department. This ship was a floating bomb that would reach
Bombay on 12th April 1994 and two days later it would explode and cost tremors all the way
till Shimla which was 17000 kilometers away. The day of explosion would come to be known
as the day that it rained blood and gold on the streets of Bombay. This case study also
explains about the losses, suburban relief activities and aftermath etc.

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2. INTRODUCTION
The Bombay explosion (or Bombay docks explosion) occurred on 14 April 1944.In the
Victoria Dock of Bombay, British India (now Mumbai, India) when the
British freighter SS Fort Stikine, carrying a mixed cargo of cotton bales, timber, oil, gold, and
ammunition including around 1,400 tons of explosives with an additional 240 tons of torpedoes
and weapons, caught fire and was destroyed in two giant blasts, scattering debris, sinking
surrounding ships and setting fire to the area, killing around 800 to 1,300 people. Some 80,000
people were made homeless and 71 firemen lost their lives in the aftermath.

As part of the salvage operation, sub-lieutenant Ken Jackson, RNVR was seconded to the
Indian government to establish the pumping operation. He and chief petty officer Charles
Brazier arrived in Bombay on 7 May 1944. Over a period of three months, many ships were
salvaged. The de-watering operation took three months to complete, after which Jackson and
Brazier returned to their base in Colombo. Jackson remained in the Far East for another two
years, conducting further salvage work. For their efforts with the pumping operation, both men
were rewarded: Brazier was awarded the MBE, and Jackson received an accelerated promotion.
An Australian minesweeper, HMAS Gawler, landed working parties on 21 June 1944, to assist
in the restoration of the port.

The details of the explosions and losses were first reported to the outside world by Radio
Saigon, a Japanese-controlled radio which gave a detailed report of the incident on 15 April
1944. British-Indian wartime censorship permitted news reporters to send the reports only in
the second week of May 1944. Time Magazine published the story as late as 22 May 1944 and
still it was news to the outside world. A movie depicting the explosions and aftermath, made
by Indian cinematographer Sudhish Ghatak, was confiscated by military officers although parts
of it were shown to the public as a newsreel later.

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3. DETAILED CASE STUDY

3.1 Detailed information

The SS Fort Stikine was a 7,142 gross register ton freighter built in 1942 in Prince Rupert,
British Columbia, under a lend-lease agreement, and was named after Fort Stikine, a former
outpost of the Hudson's Bay Company located at what is now Wrangell, Alaska.

Sailing from Birkenhead on 24 February, via Gibraltar, Port Said and Karachi, she arrived at
Bombay on 12 April 1944. Her cargo included 1,395 tons of explosives including 238 tons of
sensitive an explosives, torpedoes, mines, shells, and munitions. She also carried Supermarine
Spitfire fighter aircraft, raw cotton bales, barrels of oil, timber, scrap iron and approximately
£890,000 of gold bullion in bars in 31 crates. The 87,000 bales of cotton and lubricating oil
were loaded at Karachi and the ship's captain, Alexander James Naismith, recorded his protest
about such a "mixture" of cargo. The transportation of cotton through the sea route was
inevitable for the merchants, as transporting cotton by rail from Punjab and Sindh to Bombay
was banned at that time. Naismith, who lost his life in the explosion, described the cargo as
just about everything that will either burn or blow up. The vessel was still awaiting unloading
on 12 April, after forty-eight hours of berthing.

In the mid-afternoon around 14:00, the crew were alerted to a fire onboard burning somewhere
in the No. 2 hold. The crew, dockside fire teams and fireboats were unable to extinguish the
conflagration, despite pumping over 900 tons of water into the ship, nor were they able to find
the source due to the dense smoke. The water was boiling all over the ship, due to heat
generated by the fire.

At 15:50 the order to abandon ship was given, and sixteen minutes later there was a great
explosion, cutting the ship in two and breaking windows over 12 km (7.5 mi) away. This and
a later second explosion were powerful enough to be recorded by seismographs at the Colaba
Observatory in the city. Sensors recorded that the earth trembled at Shimla, a city over
1,700 km away. The shower of burning material set fire to slums in the area. Around 2 square
kilometers (0.77 sq mi) were set ablaze in an 800 m (870 yd) arc around the ship. Eleven
neighboring vessels had been sunk or were sinking, and the emergency personnel at the site
suffered heavy losses. Attempts to fight the fire were dealt a further blow when the second
explosion from the ship swept the area at 16:34. Burning cotton bales fell from the sky on
docked ships, the dock yard, and slum areas outside the harbor. The sound of explosions was

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heard as far as 80 km (50 mi) away. Some of the most developed and economically important
parts of Bombay were wiped out by the blast and resulting fire.

fig3.1 SS Fort Stikine

3.2 LOSS

The total number of lives lost in the explosion is estimated at more than 800, some estimates
put the figure around 1,300. More than 500 civilians lost their lives, many of them residing in
adjoining slum areas, but as it was wartime, information about the full extent of the damage
was partially censored. The results of the explosion are summarized as follows:

• Two hundred thirty-one people killed were attached to various dock services
including fire brigade and dock employees.
• Of the above figure, 66 were firemen.
• More than 500 civilians were killed.
• Some estimates put total deaths up to 1,300.
• More than 2,500 were injured, including civilians.
• Thirteen ships were lost and some other ships heavily or partially damaged.
• Out of above, three Royal Indian Navy ships lost.
• Thirty-one wooden crates, each containing four gold bars, each gold bar weighing
800 Troy ounces or almost 25 kg. (almost all since recovered).

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• More than 50,000 tons of shipping destroyed and another 50,000 tons of shipping
damaged.
• Loss of more than 50,000 tons of food grains, including rice, which gave rise to
black marketing of food grains afterwards.

3.3 SUBURBAN RELIEF ACTIVITIES

According to Mr.D.N. Wandrekar, a senior journalist in The Bombay Chronicle newspaper

dated 20 April 1944 stated that Mumbaikars are always known for their good heart which is
why around five days after the incident massive relief activities were shifted to the suburbs
owing to the neutralization of South Mumbai from the damages caused. Soon after the calamity
people from the affected areas began pouring into the suburbs. About six thousand persons
from the Mandvi area mostly middle class went to Ghatkopar. The workers and others
from Ghatkopar got the three schools opened for their accommodation and private households
also provided accommodation to these unfortunate families.

There was a rush of laborers from the dock areas who wanted to get out of Bombay on foot by
the Agra Road. Ghatkopar workers opened a kitchen for them at the Hindu Sabha Hall. The
kitchen served food for about a thousand persons twice daily. The Ghatkopar kitchen was still
running when Vile Parle's Irla residents started running a second center for about 500 persons,
where food and lodging were provided for the refugees. A third kitchen was opened at
Khotwadi and Narli Agripada in Santacruz where about 300 people were being served. In Khar,
arrangements had been made to give rations to about a hundred persons who have found
accommodation in Kherwadiand Old Khar village. Khar Danda a fishermen's village had
decided for about a hundred people's accommodation and food. Many families on the Salsette
Island, also known as Mumbai Suburb opened doors to the needy. The rich have come forward
with big donations and youths, male and female organized into Volunteer Corps have been
doing all the labor for these different centers.

3.4 AFTERMATH

It took three days to bring the fire under control, and later, 8,000 men toiled for seven months
to remove around 500,000 tons of debris and bring the docks back into action.

The inquiry into the explosion identified the cotton bales as probably being the seat of the fire.
It was critical of several errors:

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• storing the cotton below the munitions,

• not displaying the red flag (B flag) required to indicate a "dangerous cargo on
board",
• delaying unloading the explosives,
• not using steam injectors to contain the fire, and
• a delay in alerting the local fire brigade.

Many families lost all their belongings and were left with just the clothes on their backs.
Thousands became destitute. It was estimated that about 6,000 firms were affected and 50,000
lost their jobs. The government took full responsibility for the disaster and monetary
compensation was paid to citizens who made a claim for loss or damage to property.

During periodical dredging operations to maintain the depth of the docking bays, many intact
gold bars have been found, some as late as February 2011, and returned to the government. A
live shell weighing 45 kg (100 lb) was also found in October 2011. The Mumbai Fire Brigade's
headquarters at Byculla has a memorial to the fire fighters who died. National Fire Safety Week
is observed across India from 14 to 21 April, in memory of the 66 firemen who died in this
explosion.

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4. CONCLUSION
In 1986, late though the Government of India designated April 14 as Fire service day in
recognition of the valor and sacrifice of the firemen who lost their lives in the explosion ana
those who laid down their lives inline of duty. Today Mumbai has built a memorial in Byculla
to commemorate the 66 firefighters who lost their life in the dock explosion on 14th April
1994.Gold bars from fort Stikine were also discovered in February 2011 by workers near the
sea. All this remind us that our cities littered with small relics that remind us that the big
forgotten events of our history.

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5. REFERENCES

• "Explosion in Bombay". merchantnavyofficers.com. Archived from the original on 4

February 2012.
• https://www.slideshare.net/AbhishantBaishya/case-study-fire-in-ioc-terminal
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Jaipur_fire
• https://www.esri.in/~/media/esriindia/files/pdfs/events/uc2011/papers/DM_UCP0014.
pdf
• "HMHS Chantilly (1941)". Maritime Quest. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
• "Explosion on Cargo ship rocks Bombay, India". History.com. Retrieved 15
September 2012.