The bodies of 84 individuals who were on an Iranian vessel that sank after a U.S. attack in southern waters beyond Sri Lanka’s maritime boundary have been recovered, the Sri Lanka Navy has announced.
Accordingly, the Navy stated that search operations for the missing are continuing.
The vessel IRIS Dena, belonging to the Navy sank in deep waters south of Sri Lanka after being attacked by a U.S. submarine.
The ship, which had a crew of 180, had participated in an international naval fleet review and military exercise in Visakhapatnam, India, and was returning to Iran when the incident occurred.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth yesterday confirmed that the US sank “an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters” in the Indian Ocean.
“Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo,” he said.
But Hegseth did not name the Iranian ship that was attacked.
“In the Indian Ocean—an American submarine sunk an Iranian warship, that thought it was safe in international waters.
Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo—Quiet Death.
The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War 2. Like in that war—back when we were still the War Department—we are fighting to win,” Hegseth told reporters.
Sri Lanka Navy earlier confirmed that it rescued 32 people after it received a distress call from Iranian navy ship “IRIS Dena” early last morning. They were admitted to the Galle National Hospital.
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.
He also said 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 said 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.
