Vergarolla explosion

The Vergarola explosion (Vergarolla in Italian) occurred on August 18, 1946 when 28 huge water mines containing 9 tons of explosives exploded in the waters off the crowded Vergarolla beach, in Pula, Croatia.

The mines that remained in the bay exploded at approximately 2 PM, August 18, 1946, thereby killing 70 and wounding over 100 people (these numbers are unconfirmed and may be inaccurate). Most of the victims were bathers who had been attending an annual swimming event called "Scarioni".

Accounts differ about the nature of the mines. Some say that the mines that were in the bay were placed there by the Italians who retreated in 1943 and who claimed they had defused them, and there are those who say that they were left by the Allied occupation forces. On the other hand, some nationalist elements in Italy claim that the explosion was in fact a diversion by Josip Broz Tito's partisans done in a bid to accelerate the Istrian exodus.