 On 7 April 1961 , the Dubai @-@ based MV Dara , a five thousand ton British flagged vessel that plied the route between Basra ( Iraq ) , Kuwait and Bombay ( India ) , was caught in unusually high winds off Dubai . Early the next morning in heavy seas off Umm Al Qawain , an explosion tore out the second class cabins and started fires . The captain gave the order to abandon ship but two lifeboats capsized and a second explosion occurred . A flotilla of small boats from Dubai , Sharjah , Ajman and Umm Al Qawain picked up survivors but in all 238 lives were lost in the disaster . 
