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.

[6] The 8,700 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 crew, dockside fire teams and fireboats were unable to extinguish the conflagration, despite pumping over 900 tons of water into the ship, and nor were they able to find the source due to the dense smoke.

Eleven neighbouring vessels had been sunk or were sinking, and the emergency personnel at the site suffered heavy losses.

[10] The Australian hospital ship AHS Wanganella had been moored 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) off Bombay when the explosion occurred.

[12] A movie depicting the explosions and aftermath, made by Indian cinematographer Sudhish Ghatak, was confiscated by military officers,[6] although parts of it were shown to the public as a newsreel at a later date.

[13] 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.

[6] The results of the explosion are summarised as follows: D. N. Wandrekar, a senior journalist at The Bombay Chronicle newspaper, stated in a report dated 20 April 1944 that Mumbaikars (transl.

For their efforts with the pumping operation, both men were rewarded: Brazier was awarded the MBE, and Jackson received an accelerated promotion.

[6] 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 periodic 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.

National Fire Safety Week is observed across India[18] from 14 to 21 April, in memory of the 66 firemen who died in this explosion.