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Missing since 1961: UAE family renews search for boy lost in deadly MV Dara tragedy
The Dubai family restarted its search after a social media video surfaced, hoping old memories and a possible Bahrain connection could finally lead them to Amin
- PUBLISHED: Tue 11 Aug 2026, 6:42 PM
“We miss you, and we are still waiting for the day Allah unites us with you. We have never forgotten you.” That is the message an Emirati family in Dubai has for Amin, who disappeared as a young boy during the MV Dara disaster in 1961 and was never found.
Sixty-five years later, the family who never stopped searching, has ramped up efforts again. They are looking at old accounts, possible links to Bahrain and information coming through social media, and say DNA testing could be used if someone comes forward claiming to be Amin or one of his descendants.
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Amin was around five or six years old when he disappeared. If he is alive today, the family believes he would be about 71 or 72. “We started searching again about a year ago. The Instagram page is new,” a family member told Khaleej Times.
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The relative asked not to be identified because the family has faced scammers since the search began gaining attention online.
Social media video restarts search
For decades, Amin’s family had no clear answer about what happened to him after he was separated from his relatives. Then, about a year ago, a video shared online gave them information they said they had never known before.
According to the family member, a man was on the MV Dara and saw Amin while trying to reach a lifeboat. He picked up the young boy and carried him towards the boat.
There was no space for the man to get on and he therefore handed Amin to a woman on the lifeboat, telling her that the boy was Amin from Dubai and asking her to return him to his family.
“We didn’t know about it for 65 years,” said the family member. “I found it with the help of my family. We all worked together to find this information.”
The family later launched the 'Find Amin' Instagram page, hoping the appeal could reach people whose parents or grandparents were involved in the rescue, or families who may still have old photographs, records or stories from 1961.
‘They were holding hands’
Amin was travelling with his mother and siblings when disaster struck the MV Dara in April 1961. According to the family, he was with his nine-year-old brother as panic spread among passengers.
“They were holding hands,” the family member said.
People were running and shouting as passengers tried to escape. In the confusion, the two brothers were separated, and the older brother eventually survived and returned to Dubai.
For years, that separation was one of the last moments the family knew about Amin. The account discovered more recently, however, suggests that the young boy was later seen alive and carried towards a lifeboat before being handed to a woman.
Other members of the family travelling on the ship also died. According to the relative, only the nine-year-old brother and another brother — who was still a baby at the time — were known to have survived.
Amin, however, never returned to the family.
Bahrain connection
The story of Amin’s baby brother is one reason Bahrain remains important to the family’s search. The baby, who was around six to eight months old, was rescued by a man helping the family and taken to Bahrain. He was later brought back to Dubai and reunited with his relatives.
The older surviving brother also returned home but Amin did not. The family now wants to know where the lifeboat carrying Amin went and whether he could eventually have been taken to Bahrain or elsewhere in the Gulf.
If a credible lead emerges in Bahrain, the family said they are ready to travel there. “If there is anything about Amin there, we probably will,” said the relative.
The family has also received information since renewing the search, although relatives have asked for some details connected to current leads to remain private while they try to establish whether they are genuine.
DNA could provide an answer
The family believes social media could now reach people who heard stories about the disaster from their parents or grandparents.
Even information passed down through generations could matter because Amin was very young when he disappeared and may have grown up under another name.
The search is therefore not limited to Amin himself. If he survived and later had a family, his children or grandchildren could now hold the key to solving the mystery. “If we find anyone, a DNA test will be done,” said the family member.
DNA testing could help establish whether a person who believes Amin may have been their father, grandfather or relative has a biological connection to his family in Dubai.
Questions left unanswered
The MV Dara disaster took place in April 1961 and claimed hundreds of lives. The passenger ship had been operating between ports around the Gulf and the Indian subcontinent when an explosion and fire led to one of the region’s worst maritime tragedies.
For Amin’s family, however, the question is now more specific: what happened after the young boy was handed to the woman on the lifeboat?
They hope someone may recognise the account, know who the woman was or have records, photographs or family stories that could show where survivors from that lifeboat were taken. And if Amin himself somehow reads their appeal, the family has a message for him.
“If this message reaches you, know that there is someone who loves you and is always waiting for you,” said the family member said. “The hope of seeing you again will remain alive in our hearts.”
SM Ayaz Zakir is a Senior Correspondent with a flair for extraordinary stories. His playground? Every corner of the UAE. He often ventures into remote corners of the country to capture compelling news and human interest stories.