Web Desk: An Iranian naval warship sank off Sri Lanka’s southern coast, prompting a large-scale rescue operation that saved 32 crew members, officials said Wednesday. Authorities also recovered several bodies, while conflicting reports emerged over the number of missing personnel and the cause of the incident.
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told parliament that the ship, identified as IRIS Dena, went down in the Indian Ocean near the island’s southern maritime zone.
According to a Sri Lankan navy spokesperson, the navy received a distress signal from the Iranian vessel and immediately alerted the air force. Both forces launched a coordinated search and rescue mission.
Rescuers transported 32 injured survivors to a state-run hospital in the port city of Galle for treatment. “We remain focused on saving lives and will continue operations until we are certain no one else can be found,” the spokesman said.
However, defense sources initially suggested that more than 100 crew members might be unaccounted for and indicated that a submarine attack could have caused the sinking. The navy spokesman rejected the figure of 101 missing and said authorities had not confirmed the cause of the disaster.
Meanwhile, security officials familiar with preliminary assessments said investigators are examining the possibility that a submarine targeted the Iranian warship. Although officials did not publicly assign responsibility, regional defense analysts pointed to heightened maritime tensions in the Indian Ocean and raised suspicions that an Indian Navy submarine could have been involved.
Sri Lankan military officials said they had not detected other ships or aircraft in the immediate vicinity at the time of the sinking. Nevertheless, they emphasized that the priority remains humanitarian assistance rather than attribution.
Authorities said they will launch a formal inquiry into the incident once rescue operations conclude. The sinking comes at a time of increasing strategic competition in regional waters, where naval patrols by multiple countries have intensified in recent months.
For now, Sri Lankan forces continue combing the waters in hopes of locating additional survivors as questions mount over how the Iranian warship met its fate.
