A US submarine sank an Iranian warship with a torpedo off the southern coast of Sri Lanka, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegsett announced today, quoted by Reuters and the Associated Press, BTA reports.
Earlier, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Wijitha Herath told parliament that on board the Iranian ship, which he identified as "IRIS Dena" (IRIS Dena), there were 180 people.
A ship named IRIS Dena was included in the list of participants in naval exercises held in the Bay of Bengal from February 18 to 25, the exercise website shows.
Commander Boudika Sampath, the Sri Lankan navy spokesman, said several bodies had been recovered from the sea in the area of the incident. Thirty-two people were rescued by the navy and are in hospital in the southern port city of Galle. The navy received a distress call from an Iranian ship and informed the Sri Lankan air force, after which both services launched a search and rescue operation, Sampath said. Rescue boats that reached the scene did not find the ship, but only saw a slick of oil, Sampath said, stressing that the incident occurred outside Sri Lankan territorial waters, but the country had nevertheless pledged to provide support. Sri Lankan forces were focused on saving the lives of those on the Iranian ship and would later investigate the cause of the incident, the spokesman said. The force has not spotted any other ships or aircraft in the area of the incident, he added.
“We hope we can rescue more people and will continue (the operations) until we are sure,“ Sampath added.