An Iranian warship sank off the coast of Sri Lanka on Wednesday, March 4. Sri Lankan authorities said they rescued over 30 people and recovered many bodies from the sea. The ship that sank off the Sri Lankan coast has been identified as the IRIS Dena, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told parliament.
Reuters quoted Sri Lankan Ministry of Navy and Defense sources as saying the vessel had been attacked by a submarine. As many as 101 people who were on board the warship were missing during the incident. Defense sources said it was unclear who attacked the ship and why.
Meanwhile, a Sri Lanka Navy spokesperson clarified the number of 101 and said that reports of 101 people missing are not true. The spokesman also dismissed any reports about the cause of the ship’s sinking.
A spokesman said 32 people injured in the incident were rescued by the Sri Lankan navy and were being treated at a state hospital in the southern port city of Galle. Also read | How long can the US sustain the Iran war? Pentagon warns of looming missile shortage
The incident was reported when the Sri Lankan Navy received a distress call from an Iranian ship. The navy then informed the Sri Lankan Air Force and both launched a search and rescue operation, the spokesman said.
Sri Lankan forces were concentrating on saving lives on the Iranian ship and would investigate the cause of the incident later, he said.
Sri Lankan forces also did not spot any other ship or aircraft in the area of the incident, he added.
“We hope we can save more people and we will continue (operations) until we are sure,” he said. Also read | Missiles, Airspace Closures and Oil Shock: How the US-Iran War Is Evolving in the Middle East – Country-by-Country Breakdown
The warship sank just as the United States and Israel’s joint war against Iran entered its 5th day. Since then, fighter jets have been buzzing overhead in Tehran and other parts of the Middle East. Such was the intensity of the attacks that state television announced that a funeral for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the conflict, would be postponed.
According to the AP, the war has killed more than 1,000 people in Iran and dozens in Lebanon, while disrupting world oil and gas supplies, snarling international shipping and stranding hundreds of thousands of passengers in the Middle East.
