Burning oil tanks at Madras [Chennai], India after the bombardment by the German light cruiser Emden on 22 September 1914

The event found place in the beginning of the First World War when the German light cruiser Emden commanded by captain Karl von Müller within 30 minutes the oil tanks of the Burmah Oil Company bombarded and a small merchant ship destroyed. Despite fire of the British shore batteries managed the Emden to escape without any damage. The Emden was laid down at the Kaiserliche Werft at Danzig on 1 November 1906, launched on 26 May 1908, commissioned on 10 July 1909, sunk in the so-called battle of Penang the Russian warship Zhemchug and the French destroyer Mousquet on 28 October1914 and finally grounded and scuttled off the Cocos islands when she tried to escape from the Australian cruiser Sydney on 9 November 1914.

The photo was published in the Dutch magazine De Prins dated 14 November 1914 page 230.