La Coubre, a 4,310-ton French vessel, was on 4 March 1960 unloading her cargo of 76 tons of Belgian munitions she had transported from the port of Antwerp in Belgium to Havana.

[a] At the time of the explosion, Che Guevara (who was a trained doctor) was in a meeting at the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (NIAR) headquarters.

He drove to the scene and spent the next few hours giving medical attention to the crew members, armed forces personnel, and dock workers who had been injured.

[9] La Coubre, named for a point of land along the Atlantic coast of France, La Coubre, was towed to a dry-dock in Havana Harbor where she underwent extensive temporary repairs for five months to make her sufficiently seaworthy to be towed to France.

When returned to service she continued to be owned and operated by the French Compagnie Générale Transatlantique until 1972, when she was sold to the Dorothea shipping company in Cyprus and renamed Barbara.