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Mumbai: The country's commercial capital on Monday paid homage to the 66 firemen who perished battling the Bombay Docks inferno of April 14, 1944.
The exact number of people who died or were injured in the conflagration has ironically never found official mention, although the general consensus is that two massive explosions left 800 dead, among them Bombay Port Trust workers, army and navy personnel, sailors and policemen.
Smoke was first noticed on board the SS Fort Stikine which had arrived on April 12, 1944 from Karachi carrying a cargo of ammunition, cotton bales, explosives and gold. Fire fighters were alerted and 900 tonnes of water pumped into the ship. The vessel's captain eventually ordered the vessel be abandoned at 15.50 pm.
At 16.40 pm, Mumbai was rocked by a catastrophic explosion in the Stikine berthed at No.1 Victoria Dock which obliterated ships, buildings and railways and roads in Victoria and Princess docks.
A second explosion came minutes later, with debris being thrown 2,000 feet into the air and scattering as far as 12km away.
The raging inferno was visible for miles across the city and it took three days and supreme sacrifice from dozens of firefighters to tame the blaze.
Memorial erected
A memorial was built in memory of the fallen firefighters at the fire brigade headquarters in Byculla and the Government of India, in 1968, declared April 14 as Fire Services Day.
Maharashtra Governor S.C. Jamir on Monday met the chief fire officers in the state to kick off a week-long awareness campaign on fire prevention and safety and also to appeal to the public to contribute generously to the Maharashtra Fire Service Personnel Welfare Fund.
"It is a pity that the central government has not been able to prepare a plan that can be implemented throughout the country," he said referring to recent fires in Mumbai and Kolkata that had caused large-scale destruction of property.
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