Six decades on, MV Dara’s bombing off Dubai remains an enduring horror

The MV Dara, a 120-meter, 5,000-ton ship was a familiar sight in Dubai and around the Gulf. (Shutterstock)
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Updated 09 April 2021
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Six decades on, MV Dara’s bombing off Dubai remains an enduring horror

  • A suitcase bomb explosion aboard the vessel off Dubai killed 238 people, most of them Arabs, Indians and Pakistanis
  • British investigators later concluded that an anti-tank mine caused the blast that destroyed the passenger ship

LONDON: During the night of April 8, 1961, 11-year-old Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the future ruler of Dubai, was awoken by the sound of a ferocious storm battering the royal palace.

As a child, he had heard the elders of his grandfather’s generation recall phenomenal storms of such savagery that they likened them to the Day of Judgement.

But, as Sheikh Mohammed wrote in his autobiography “My Story” in 2019, “I didn’t pay much heed to their prophetic, doom-laden words.”

That is until that April night in 1961 when “I found my bed in the middle of a full-blown storm, with windows slamming in the gale-force winds that were blowing through our family home … It seemed like the world was ending all around me, what some other cultures call the end of days.”

It was, he wrote, “the beginning of a seemingly endless night,” during which large numbers of his father’s subjects, many of them injured and rendered homeless by the storm, sought sanctuary at the palace.

Outside, Sheikh Mohammed recalled, “there was heavy destruction, with palm trees flying through the air like toys, many houses damaged or utterly destroyed, and fishing boats tossed into the streets of the city. Many families suffered death or injury that night.”

And then, just when it seemed that things could not get any worse, they did. Out on the storm-swept sea, dozens were losing their lives — not to nature’s fury, but at the hands of a ruthless human killer.

Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Rashid had organized men to go out into the streets to help where they could, and to help staff at Al-Maktoum Hospital cope with the waves of injured who were pouring in.

And then, recalled Sheikh Mohammed, “arrived news that froze my father where he stood. British soldiers rushed past the door, scarcely catching their breath. They shouted, ‘Your Highness! There’s a fire on the Dara!’ The world seemed to stand still.”

The MV Dara, a 120-meter, 5,000-ton ship was a familiar sight in Dubai and around the Gulf. Owned by the British India Steam Navigation Co., it was one of four similar ships that for the past decade or more had provided a regular service for cargo and passengers to and from Bombay (now Mumbai) via ports around the Gulf.




The Dara was one of four similar ships that for the past decade or more had provided a regular service for cargo and passengers to and from Bombay, now Mumbai. (File Photo)

The Dara had left Mumbai on March 23 and, after calling at Karachi, Muscat, Dubai, Doha, Bahrain, Kuwait, Khorramshahr, Abadan and Basra, had returned to Dubai on April 7. On board were around 560 passengers and 132 crew.

The ship was anchored off the creek, with small boats ferrying passengers and cargo to and from the shore, when in the afternoon the weather began to deteriorate rapidly.

At about 5:30 p.m., after the Dara was clipped by a nearby cargo ship that had dragged its anchor in the rising seas, Capt. Charles Elson made the decision to put out to sea and ride out the storm in the relative safety of open water.

It was a fateful decision for the approximately 128 dock workers, officials, tradesmen and friends of passengers who had come aboard in Dubai and were unable to disembark before the ship sailed away to weather the storm. In all, about 820 souls were on board that night.




The Dara had left Mumbai on March 23 and, after calling at Karachi, Muscat, Dubai, Doha, Bahrain, Kuwait, Khorramshahr, Abadan and Basra, had returned to Dubai on April 7, 1961. (File Photo)

After the storm began to ease at about 4 a.m. the next morning, the Dara started its return to Dubai. She never made it.

Forty-three minutes later, a terrific explosion in an alleyway on the portside upper deck shook the ship.

“This explosion was of considerable violence,” reported the official inquiry into the tragedy, carried out in London in March and April 1962.

“It blew a semi-circular hole about 6ft wide and 4ft high in the engine-room casing, which separated the engine room from this alleyway; a rather larger hole was blown in the bulkhead on the port side; in the deck above there was a hole about 4ft in diameter ... fire immediately broke out, there was heavy smoke; all electric power was cut off, the steering gear was put out of action and the pipes in the vicinity of the explosion were ruptured.”

Many passengers and even crew panicked, crowding into lifeboats “with a considerable quantity of luggage” even before the call came to abandon ship. Of the six lifeboats launched, two capsized with loss of life.

In “My Story,” Sheikh Mohammed painted a vivid picture of the horror that unfolded as nearby ships, Dubai fishermen and others rushed to the Dara’s aid.

“More than 800 passengers were on board the sinking ship,” he wrote. “The soldiers said that many were killed immediately, but more passengers were dying every minute as they crowded to escape — some crushed to death, others drowning in the raging waters.”

(Then) arrived news that froze my father where he stood. British soldiers rushed past the door, scarcely catching their breath. They shouted, ‘Your Highness! There’s a fire on the Dara!’ The world seemed to stand still.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum

Overloaded lifeboats “were capsizing in the middle of the sea and the strong winds were scattering the boats in all directions.”

At the palace, “we gathered our relatives and a large number of Dubai residents in our home. My father sent all our family, without exception, with lifeboats to try to save anyone they could. We were able to rescue about 500 people that night — a night I thought would never end; one of horror, violence and terrible human tragedy.”

The crippled, burnt-out Dara stayed afloat for two more days before finally capsizing and sinking as she was towed back to Dubai. Today, she lies on her side about 8 km offshore.




The Dubai Voluntary Diving Team has worked with the Department of Tourism and Archaeology in Umm Al Qaiwain over ten months to complete phase one of the excavation of the ship, Dara, by cleaning debris from the location where the ship sank. (Emirates News Agency)

In interviews with this writer a decade ago, survivors and relatives of those who had been on the ship told of the horror of that night.

John Soares, then a 23-year-old deputy purser from Goa, recalled being thrown by the blast from his cabin bunk on the main deck. “I found total confusion on the deck,” he said. “I could see a gaping hole with fire coming out of it.”

Even as he tried to get passengers to put on lifejackets, many leapt into the rough seas without them.

“They were not listening to anybody, they were in a world of their own,” he said. “It was terrible, total panic.”

Decades after the tragedy, he remained haunted by the events of that night — the sight of many of those who jumped breaking their necks upon impact with the water, and the horror of witnessing mothers desperate to save their babies from the flames engulfing the ship, instead throwing them to certain death in the sea.

Many people in the region remain affected by the tragedy. Raja Qaiser of Islamabad, born 12 years after the sinking, recalled how his family still mourned its “lost children” — the four sisters Latifa, 17, Shoib, 7, Jamela, 5 and Hafeza, 3 months — who died on the ship with their mother Maqsood.

As a child, Qaiser would often hear his father Raja, who was not on the ship and who died in 1987 aged 70, speaking of his lost children. Until the end of his life, “he believed they had survived. He would not let anyone cry.”




After the storm began to ease at about 4 a.m. the next morning, the Dara started its return to Dubai. She never made it. (File Photo)

After the tragedy, which affected so many families around the Gulf, the hunt began for what caused the blast.

In 1957, Britain had intervened in an increasingly bitter war between the sultan of Oman and rebel tribespeople. The conflict reached a turning point in 1959 when British special forces and RAF bombers delivered a series of decisive blows against the rebels, in what became known as the Jebel Akhdar War.

The uprising had been crushed, but for a while insurgents continued to plant landmines in Oman, hitting military and civilian vehicles.

In 1962, a special court convened in Britain under the terms of the 1894 Merchant Shipping Act considered the evidence for 15 days and concluded that an explosive — probably a landmine — had been “practically certainly, deliberately placed in the vessel by a person or persons unknown.”

Sir John Hobson, the solicitor general, told the inquiry that the explosion had been a “deliberate and wicked act” of sabotage, the work of Omani rebels.

The explosion, reported the inquiry, had caused “an instantaneous fire which spread with extreme rapidity.”

The deaths had resulted “partly from the explosion itself and partly from the extremely rapid spread of the fire, which asphyxiated an unknown number of persons and prevented the launching of the majority of the lifeboats.”

Evidence was given to the inquiry by British Royal Navy divers who had been sent down to examine the wreck of the Dara.

They had concluded that “there seemed little doubt that the explosion was caused by a high-explosive of approximately the type and quantity used in an anti-tank mine ... detonated deliberately, probably by a detonator with a time device.”

No group claimed responsibility for the blast and no one was ever charged with having carried it out, but numerous suspects were arrested and interrogated by the British.

Sir John de Silva, first secretary of the British Political Residency in Bahrain, told the inquiry that a prominent member of the rebel group had “admitted that the explosion had been caused by his colleagues.”

The unofficial conclusion reached was that the bomb had been intended to go off at Muscat in Oman, the Dara’s next scheduled port of call.

Hidden in a suitcase, the explosives may have been smuggled on board at Dubai by an insurgent or insurgents who had traveled overland to the port from Oman.

In a final twist of fate brought about by a storm of the type likened by the elders of Dubai to the Day of Judgement, the bomber may have been trapped on board when the Dara’s skipper raised anchor and sailed into open water to weather the storm. And, quite possibly, he was among the dead.

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Twitter: @JonathanGornall


UAE president, Russia’s Putin discuss Iran-Israel conflict

Updated 12 sec ago
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UAE president, Russia’s Putin discuss Iran-Israel conflict

  • Emirati, Russian leaders proposed ways to contain the military escalation

LONDON: Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan to discuss the latest developments in the Iran-Israel conflict, which entered its sixth day as of Wednesday.

The leaders addressed the grave implications of the conflict — which began on Friday — on regional and global security, according to the Emirates News Agency.

They discussed efforts to contain the war and halt the spiraling escalation, and highlighted the importance of exercising restraint and pursuing dialogue to avoid further threats to security.

Putin and Sheikh Mohamed voiced their support for all efforts aimed at achieving a solution through diplomatic means, WAM reported.


UN official arrives to discuss UNIFIL’s mandate in southern Lebanon

Updated 26 min 26 sec ago
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UN official arrives to discuss UNIFIL’s mandate in southern Lebanon

  • Aoun says Lebanon is committed to the peacekeeping force and trying to secure funding
  • Jean-Pierre Lacroix: The UN supports Lebanon’s demand for the continued work of UNIFIL

BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Wednesday informed Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN undersecretary-general for peace operations, of “Lebanon’s firm commitment to maintaining the UNIFIL (mandate) in southern Lebanon for the implementation of Resolution 1701, in coordination with the Lebanese army, which will continue its deployment in the south and the full implementation of the agreement reached in November 2024.”

Aoun expressed hope that “the countries funding international peace missions will be able to provide the necessary funding for UNIFIL’s operations so that the international forces operating in southern Lebanon are not adversely affected.” He said further that “Lebanon will engage in contacts with sisterly and friendly countries in this regard.”

Lacroix arrived in Beirut as part of a round of talks with Lebanese officials, two months ahead of the traditional UN Security Council session on the renewal of UNIFIL’s mandate in southern Lebanon, amid a reduction in US contributions to the peacekeeping budget and ongoing developments in the border area following Israel’s war on Hezbollah, as well as attacks on UNIFIL by Hezbollah supporters trying to prevent patrols without Lebanese army escorts.

The international official’s meetings took place against the backdrop of Israeli aerial offences, with reconnaissance aircraft flying over Beirut and its southern suburbs at low altitude.

During the meeting, according to a statement from the Presidential Palace media office, Lacroix said that “UNIFIL continues to carry out its duties despite the difficult conditions facing the region.”

He explained that “the Lebanese government’s request to renew the international force is under consideration by the UN and the member states of the Security Council. There are differing viewpoints regarding UNIFIL’s role and mandate, and efforts are underway to bridge those views in order to reach an agreement before the mandate expires at the end of August.”

A Lebanese source participating in the international official’s meetings in Beirut, in which he was accompanied by UNIFIL commander Gen. Aroldo Lazaro, said: “Lacroix spoke about the tendency of countries, especially the US, to request further amendments of UNIFIL’s missions in south Lebanon and a reduction in the number of participating forces. The requests did not involve cutting the services provided by these forces in the south to help the residents of the area that UNIFIL’s missions cover, which vary between medical, social and educational assistance.”

After his meeting with Aoun, Lacroix said: “The UN supports Lebanon’s demand for the continued work of UNIFIL, especially since coordination between UNIFIL and the Lebanese army takes place regularly."

Aoun emphasized that “maintaining stability in the South is a vital matter, not only to Lebanon but also to all countries in the region, and UNFIL’s role is essential in maintaining this stability.”

Aoun described “the cooperation between the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL as excellent.” He said: “Lebanon is fully upholding its commitments regarding Resolution 1701 and its provisions. However, completing the army’s deployment to the border requires the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied territories, the return of Lebanese prisoners held in Israeli prisons and the cessation of hostilities constantly targeting Lebanese territory.”

Israel still to occupies five Lebanese hills, which it considers strategic, and violates the ceasefire agreement every day by carrying out land incursions, bulldozing roads, blocking others, and conducting air strikes to assassinate Hezbollah members and raids beyond the Litani River and extending to Beirut’s southern suburbs and the Bekaa Valley.

Lebanon, meanwhile, through its Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, emphasized that “the Lebanese army dismantled more than 500 weapons depots in the south. We have strengthened security at Beirut Airport and we are working with diplomatic channels to stop Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and withdraw from the five sites.”

Aoun awarded Lazaro the National Order of the Cedar, and rank of commander, in recognition of his efforts during his tenure as commander of the international force operating in southern Lebanon. The ceremony marked the conclusion of Lazaro’s mission and his imminent departure from the country.

Lazaro held a meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and is expected to meet with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Thursday.

The discussion focused on the latest developments in southern Lebanon and the UNIFIL forces’ work, according to a statement from Berri’s office.


Under Israeli attack, Iran has ‘legitimate’ right to self-defense: Erdogan

Updated 18 June 2025
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Under Israeli attack, Iran has ‘legitimate’ right to self-defense: Erdogan

  • Erdogan said Turkiye is 'closely following Israel’s terrorist attacks on Iran'
  • He had ordered the defense industry to increase production of medium and long-range missiles to 'increase its level of deterrence'

ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday Iran had the “legitimate” right to defend itself in the face of Israel’s ongoing bombing campaign, now in its sixth day.
“It is a very natural, legitimate and legal right for Iran to defend itself against Israel’s thuggery and state terrorism,” the Turkish leader said, a day after referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “the biggest threat to the security of the region.”
The long-range blitz began early Friday, when Israel launched a massive bombing campaign that prompted Iran to hit back with missiles and drones, including hypersonic missiles.
“These attacks were organized while the Iranian nuclear negotiations were taking place,” Erdogan said.
“Israel, which possesses nuclear weapons and does not recognize any international rules... did not wait for the negotiations to end but carried out a terrorist act without waiting for the result,” he added.
Iran says at least 224 people have been killed in the Israeli attacks, which have targeted nuclear and military facilities, while Iranian fire on Israel has claimed at least 24 lives and wounded hundreds more, Netanyahu’s office said.
“We are closely following Israel’s terrorist attacks on Iran. All our institutions are on high alert regarding the possible effects of these attacks on Turkiye,” Erdogan said.
“We are making preparations for every kind of scenario,” he said.
“Nobody should dare to test us. We don’t have any desire to take other people’s lands... in the region,” he added.
His remarks prompted a sharp riposte from Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who pointed to Turkiye’s presence in Syria and in the divided island of Cyprus, where it controls the northern part.
“It is particularly ironic that someone who does not hide his imperialist ambitions, who invaded northern Syria and illegally holds northern Cyprus, claims to speak in the name of morality and international law,” Saar wrote on X.
“A little self-awareness could be helpful,” he added.
On Monday, Erdogan said he had ordered the defense industry to increase production of medium and long-range missiles to “increase its level of deterrence” in light of the air war between Israel and Iran.


Israeli forces kill young Palestinian, arrest 60 during night raids in West Bank

Updated 18 June 2025
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Israeli forces kill young Palestinian, arrest 60 during night raids in West Bank

  • Moataz Al-Hajjleh, 21, killed in raid near Bethlehem
  • Israel forces have arrested 160 Palestinians this week

LONDON: Israeli forces killed a 21-year-old Palestinian and arrested at least 60 people during night raids on Tuesday across various towns in the occupied West Bank, including a woman, children, and former political prisoners.

The Palestinian Authority’s affiliated groups, the Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, announced on Wednesday that Israeli forces have arrested 160 Palestinians in the West Bank so far this week.

Some of those arrested were later released following interrogation.

Moataz Al-Hajjleh, 21, from the town of Al-Walaja village near Bethlehem, was killed during an Israeli raid of the area overnight.

Israeli forces conducted arrests and investigations during raids in several Palestinian governorates, including Nablus, Jenin and Ramallah.

Israeli forces have turned dozens of Palestinian houses into military points after forcibly expelling their inhabitants in the Jenin environs, the Wafa news agency reported.

At the same time, several villages had their entrances closed with earth mounds or gates.

The prisoners’ groups added that ongoing mass detention operations by Israeli forces “continue to be the most prominent, consistent, and systematic policies employed by the occupation to undermine any escalating resistance against it.”


Iranians buying supplies in Iraq tell of fear, shortages back home

Updated 18 June 2025
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Iranians buying supplies in Iraq tell of fear, shortages back home

  • Shortages in Iran were mostly due to panic-stricken Iranians who rushed to markets to stockpile basic supplies following the Israeli attacks, citizens say

PENJWEN, Iraq: Near the once-bustling Iraqi border crossing of Bashmakh, Iranian driver Fatah stocked up on rice, sugar and tea, staples that have become increasingly hard to get back home.
Fatah — who like others in this story is being identified by a pseudonym — was among dozens of truck drivers waiting impatiently to cross back into Iran from Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, hauling not only their commercial cargo, but also essential goods for their families after days of Israeli attacks.
AFP spoke with at least 30 Iranians near the Bashmakh crossing. They all refused to be interviewed on camera, and the few who agreed to describe life back home asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals back in Iran.
“There are shortages of rice, bread, sugar and tea,” Fatah said Tuesday.
Finding fuel has also become a major problem, with long queues of cars waiting hours in front of gas stations hoping the fuel did not run out, the 40-year-old driver added.
A long journey awaits Fatah, who must deliver his load of asphalt to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas about 1,700 kilometers (1,060 miles) away, before turning around and driving almost the same distance back to the western city of Marivan, where his family lives and which has so far been spared bombardment.
But “my route passes near the Natanz nuclear facility,” Fatah said, referring to one of Iran’s underground uranium enrichment sites that Israel has struck several times since the start of its campaign last week.
Surprise attack
Israel launched a devastating surprise attack on Friday targeting Iran’s military and nuclear sites and killing top commanders and scientists.
Israel says its attacks are aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, an ambition Tehran denies.
At least 224 people, including women and children, have been killed in the Israeli strikes, according to official figures.
The assault has prompted retaliatory barrages of missiles from Iran that have killed at least 24 people in Israel, according to the prime minister’s office.
Aram, 28, keeps calling his wife, fearing for his family’s safety after they had to flee their home when a strike hit a military site nearby in the city of Sanandaj.
“My family is safe, but they had to move in with relatives in a village,” Aram said.
His wife told him that many families who lived near military sites in the area had been similarly displaced.
The father of two said the shortages back home were mostly due to panic-stricken Iranians who rushed to markets to stockpile basic supplies.
Fear of shortages mounts
Back in Iran, car dealer Shwan recalled how Israeli jets struck several military sites near his city of Bukan in the west.
“People are shocked and distraught, they don’t know what they should do,” the 35-year-old told AFP via a messaging app from inside Iran.
“We have a major problem with bread shortages,” he said.
People were queuing at bakeries for hours to get loaves of bread, sometimes to no avail, Shwan said.
“Sometimes four members of one family go around bakeries looking for bread,” he added.
“It is also difficult to find rice or oil,” and many civil servants have not received their salaries yet, he said.
Avin, a 38-year-old seamstress, told AFP via a messaging app that the war “has spread fear among residents,” even though the bombs have not touched her town of Saqqez in northwest Iran.
“Some families with children left to villages outside the city,” she said.
Like others, she fears more shortages to come.
“Most of the provisions come from Tehran,” which has seen a massive exodus and is also grappling with scarcity.
“Because of this, the market in our city came to a standstill.”