The Sri Lanka Navy has provided further details regarding the Iranian ship which reportedly sank off Sri Lanka’s southern coast.
Sri Lanka Navy had earlier confirmed that it rescued 32 people after it received a distress call from Iranian navy ship ‘IRIS Dena’ early this morning.
Speaking at a special press briefing today (04), the Navy Media Spokesperson Commander Buddhika Sampath stated that the primary focus of the operation was to save lives.
“First and foremost, our priority is to rescue those who were on board the vessel in distress. Only after completing the rescue operations will we be able to conduct an investigation and issue a technical report on how this incident occurred,” he said.
He further noted that the exact number of individuals who had been on board the vessel has not yet been confirmed.
“According to the information we received, when our teams reached the scene, we observed a large oil slick, indicating that the ship had sunk. So far, 32 Iranian nationals have been rescued and admitted to the Karapitiya Hospital. We will be able to provide further details only after obtaining information from them,” the spokesperson added.
He also stated that several bodies had been found floating in the sea area and that it is suspected they are members of the ship’s crew.
“Though it was beyond our waters, it was within our search and rescue region. So we were obliged to respond as per international obligations.”
He adds: “We found people floating on the water, rescued them, and later when we inquired we found that those people are from an Iranian ship.”
He also says that according to the documentation of the ship 180 people are believed to have been on board, although the exact number of missing is unknown.
The spokesman says at the time of launching the rescue operations they did not see the vessel but saw oil patches on the water and floating life rafts.
He also rejected the reports quoting the Sri Lanka Navy and claiming a submarine attack caused the sinking, and reiterated that the exact cause is unknown as of yet.
