Around 180 sailors were onboard the distressed Iranian naval ship ‘IRIS Dena’ off Galle- FM
March 4, 2026 11:59 am
Around 180 individuals were on board the Iranian Navy vessel ‘IRIS Dena’, which was in distress about 40 nautical miles off the coast of Galle this morning (04).
Around 30 of them have been rescued by the Sri Lanka Navy and are being brought to the Galle National Hospital Teaching Hospital, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vijitha Herath said in Parliament today.
Earlier, the Sri Lanka Navy confirmed that around 30 individuals were rescued from the Iranian Navy vessel in distress off Sri Lanka’s southern seas.
The Sri Lanka Air Force has deployed an aircraft to the area of the incident to assist with search operations.
Meanwhile, speaking in Parliament today, Minister of Foreign Affairs Vijitha Herath noted that the vessel was not in Sri Lankan territorial waters when the accident occurred. However, based on Sri Lanka’s international obligations, vessels were deployed on a rescue mission.
The Foreign Minister also confirmed that, based on the distress call received around 5:08 a.m. by the Navy indicating the vessel was sinking, rescue operations were immediately launched at around 7:00 a.m.
