The 4.310-ton French vessel was carrying 76 tons of Belgian munitions from the port of Antwerpen. Thirty minutes after the first explosion, while hundreds of people were involved in a FAR-organized operation to rescue victims and secure the ship, a second even more powerful explosion occurred, resulting in many further fatalities. At the time of the explosion, Che Guevara was in a meeting in the INRA building nearby. The explosion is often attributed to the CIA who wished to overthrow the new government of Fidel Castro.