New Delhi: The Indian Navy Thursday said it had deployed its long-range, anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft P-8I to augment search efforts led by Sri Lanka to rescue the crew onboard IRIS Dena, the Iranian warship torpedoed by an American submarine.
In a statement, the Navy said that INS Tarangini, a three-masted barque class vessel used for sailing, which was operating in the vicinity, was deployed to aid the rescue efforts.
A distress call from IRIS Dena, the statement added, was received at the MRCC Colombo in the early hours of Wednesday as reported by the Sri Lankan Navy.
The ship was operating 20 NM West of Galle in the SAR region under Sri Lankan responsibility, the Navy said, adding that on receiving the information, it promptly launched its SAR (Search and Rescue) efforts commencing with a long-range maritime patrol aircraft at 10 am to augment search efforts.
Another aircraft with air droppable life rafts was also kept standby for immediate deployment.
“INS Tarangini which was operating in vicinity was deployed for aiding the rescue efforts and arrived in search area by 1600 hr on 04 March 26. By this time SAR had been undertaken by Sri Lankan Navy and other agencies,” the statement said.
It added that INS Ikshak, a survey vessel, has also sailed from Kochi and continues to remain in the area to search for missing personnel.
Coordination with the Sri Lankan side on search and rescue efforts is ongoing, it said.
The Iranian frigate IRIS Dena, sailing out from India after last month’s International Fleet Review and MILAN multilateral naval exercise, was sunk by an American submarine off Sri Lanka’s coast Wednesday.
Addressing Parliament, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said the country’s military saved 32 “critically wounded” sailors. He said the navy received information that the ship, with 180 people on board, was in distress, and that Sri Lanka responded by dispatching naval vessels and aircraft.
The incident has raised eyebrows in India’s defence and security establishment, given that the vessel was returning from Indian waters and was sunk in the country’s strategic neighbourhood.
It comes on the fifth day of an escalating conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran.
Former Navy Chief Admiral Arun Prakash, reacting to the incident, wrote on X: “Sinking of Iranian warship, off southern tip of Sri Lanka, with heavy loss of life is a senseless & inflammatory act. Initiating another dimension of violence in this open-ended conflict, will spread alarm across the high seas and & disrupt global seaborne commerce. Condemnable!”
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
Also Read: Torpedoed by US, Frigate Dena was ‘guest of India’s Navy, struck without warning’—Iran’s Araghchi