St Xavier’s High School in Fort houses pieces of propellers from the explosion
Updated On: 13 April, 2024 10:18 AM IST | Mumbai | Nascimento Pinto
As Mumbai observes the 79th anniversary of the explosion that rocked the city in the 1940s, Mid-day Online visited the school, which saw the debris fly into its campus. Today, the school has two pieces of propellers within its corridors. The school believes more people need to know about the incident
Listen to this article :
The piece of the propeller is situated on the left side of the entrance at St Xavier`s High School in Fort. Photo Courtesy: Nascimento Pinto for Mid-day
A light summer breeze blows past on a hot April morning, as this writer enters the gates of St Xavier`s High School in Fort, a stone’s throw away from Metro Cinema and Furtado’s Music shop. It`s as if the breeze prods Mumbaikars along towards the gates of the school to get to know the history within its walls. The stories are hard to ignore; especially that of the 1944 Bombay Dock explosion that rocked the city. A reminder of which is seen with the now-rusted red-hot piece of a propeller lodged on the left side of the school entrance that flew into the campus from Victoria docks.
A plaque bearing the exact details of its presence takes you back to the explosion of April 14, 1944, that occurred not too far away and subsequently led to all kinds of objects flying in different directions, two of which landed in the school. While one is a piece of the propeller, the other is a larger part of a silver-coloured propeller that found its home at the school, which is the stuff for history books about the city. One is placed at the entrance, the other is hung high up on the left side of first floor, at the end of the corridor. It is only one of the many things the winding corridors boast of including an endless museum, that has been curated by Brother Antonio Navarro S.J., who was with the institution, and visibly loved nature.
Trending Stories
Latest Photos
Latest Videos
Latest Web Stories
ADVERTISEMENT
Mid-Day Fast
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT