Bombay Explosion (1944) - Aftermath

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 official death toll was 740, including 476 military personnel, with around 1,800 people injured; unofficial tallies run much higher. The occupants of the slums were largely unregistered. In total, twenty-seven other vessels were sunk or damaged in both Victoria dock and the neighbouring Prince's Dock.

The inquiry into the explosion identified the cotton bales as probably being the seat of the fire. It was critical of several errors: storing the cotton below the munitions, not displaying the red 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 back. Thousands became destitutes. It was estimated that about 6,000 firms were affected and 50,000 lost their job. 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 normal dredging operations carried out periodically to maintain the depth of the docking bays intact gold bars have been found sporadically as late as February 2011 and returned to the British government and a live shell weighing 45 kilos was also found in October 2011. Mumbai Fire Brigade's headquarters at Byculla has a memorial built in the memory of numerous fire fighters who died. Fire Safety Week is observed all over Maharashtra from 14 to 21 April in memory of 66 firemen who died in this explosion.