Historical eventApril 81961

MV Dara

A large explosion on board the MV Dara in the Persian Gulf killed 238 people.

Everything on April 8Original source

In context

When
Saturday, April 8 196165 years ago
Category
Historical eventA dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
Era
20th century · 1960s
Recorded from
Wikipedia “On this day” feed

At a glance

Dates: From 1961.

What happened

MV Dara was a British passenger ship, built in 1948 by Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., Glasgow, Scotland. She travelled mostly between the Persian Gulf and the Indian subcontinent, carrying expatriate passengers who were employed in the nations of the Gulf.

April 8 through the years

Other entries on the same calendar day, in order.

  1. 1961MV Dara
  2. 1990New Democracy (Greece)
  3. 1993Space Shuttle Discovery
  4. 2002Space Shuttle Atlantis
  5. 2005Solar eclipse of April 8, 2005
  6. 2008Soyuz TMA-12
  7. 2010Barack Obama
  8. 2014Windows XP
  9. 2020Bernie Sanders
  10. 2024Solar eclipse of April 8, 2024
  11. 20268 April 2026 Israeli attacks on Lebanon

Also in 1961

  • March 14United States Air ForceA USAF B-52 bomber carrying nuclear weapons crashes near Yuba City, California.
  • September 16National Hurricane Research ProjectThe U.S. National Hurricane Research Project sought to weaken Hurricane Esther by seeding it with silver iodide, leading to the establish…
  • September 16Typhoon Nancy (1961)Typhoon Nancy (pictured), which possibly had the strongest winds ever measured in a tropical cyclone, made landfall in Muroto, Japan.
  • September 17Civic Arena (Pittsburgh)The world's first retractable roof stadium, the Civic Arena, opens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
  • September 181961 Ndola Transair Sweden Douglas DC-6 crashAn aircraft crashed near Ndola in Northern Rhodesia, resulting in the deaths of 16 people, including United Nations secretary-general Dag…
  • October 20Soviet NavyThe Soviet Navy performs the first armed test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile, launching an R-13 from a Golf-class submarine.
  • May 25Joint session of the United States CongressIn an address to Congress, U.S. president John F. Kennedy announced his support for the Apollo program, with "the goal, before this decad…
  • May 25Bukit Ho Swee fireA fire broke out at a squatter settlement in Bukit Ho Swee, Singapore, rendering approximately 16,000 people homeless.

Everything we record for 1961 →

Sources

Cite this page

“MV Dara”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/event/mv-dara-1961-april-8, accessed October 25, 2026.

Cite the underlying source as well — the source links above go to the record this entry is adapted from.

Questions about this entry

When did MV Dara happen?

April 8 1961 — 65 years ago, on a Saturday.

Where does this text come from?

Wikipedia “On this day” feed. Summaries are short adaptations that link back to the source, not reprints.

How do I cite this page?

Use the ready-made citation near the sources at the bottom of the page, and follow the source link to cite the underlying record as well.

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