An Iranian naval warship sank in the Indian Ocean early Wednesday near Sri Lanka after a reported U.S. military strike, leaving dozens rescued and many crew members feared missing.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed during a press conference that the United States sank the vessel with a torpedo launched from a submarine.
Sri Lanka’s navy said it received a distress signal from the Iranian warship IRIS Dena at 5:08 a.m. local time while the vessel was sailing outside the island nation’s territorial waters. Authorities estimate that about 180 crew members were on board at the time of the incident.
Sri Lankan naval and air force units were immediately deployed to the area as part of a search-and-rescue operation. Thirty-two sailors were rescued, many of them critically injured, and were transported to Karapitiya Hospital in the coastal city of Galle, officials said.
According to Sri Lanka’s navy spokesman Capt. Budhika Sampath, rescuers initially did not see the vessel itself but observed oil patches and floating life rafts in the water where the ship had gone down.
“We found people floating on the water and rescued them,” Sampath said. “Later when we inquired, we found that those people were from an Iranian ship,” he told the BBC.
Search continues for missing crew members
Authorities say the fate of many crew members remains unclear. Sri Lankan defense officials estimate that around 140 sailors may still be missing, though the exact number has not been confirmed.
Search operations were continuing in the area where the vessel sank. Sri Lankan officers also reported finding bodies floating in the water, according to officials.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told Parliament that although the sinking occurred outside the country’s territorial waters, Sri Lanka responded because the location fell within its international search-and-rescue region.
“We are signatories, so we intervened on a humane basis as is our responsibility,” Herath said.
Cause of sinking remains unknown
Officials have not yet determined what caused the warship to sink.
Sri Lankan authorities said reports suggesting a submarine attack were not confirmed, and the navy spokesman told the BBC that the cause of the sinking remains unknown.
The IRIS Dena, described as a destroyer and a significant vessel in Iran’s naval fleet, had taken part in an international naval exercise in India last month, according to officials.
Search-and-rescue operations were still underway as authorities attempted to determine the fate of the remaining crew members.
Source: BBC, The New York Times
