The British freighter SS Fort Stikine, carrying a mixed cargo of cotton bales, gold, and 1,400 tons of military and industrial explosives, caught fire and blew up in the Victoria Dock of Bombay, India. The colossal explosion destroyed the entire docklands area, set fire to slum neighborhoods for miles around, killed over 800 people, and scattered burning debris that ignited ships across the harbor. The disaster crippled one of India's most vital wartime economic hubs.

The Bombay Explosion inspired vivid documentary poetry and radical street theatre across India, highlighting the structural negligence of British colonial rulers. Poets contrasted the vaporized gold bars with the horrific loss of Indian dockworkers' lives.