By Uditha Jayasinghe
GALLE, Sri Lanka, March 4 (Reuters) – A U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship off the southern coast of Sri Lanka, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday.
Sri Lankan Foreign minister Vijitha Herath had earlier told parliament 180 people were on board the Iranian vessel, which he identified as the IRIS Dena.
A ship named IRINS Dena was listed as taking part in a naval drill held in the Bay of Bengal from February 18 to 25, according to the exercise’s website.
INJURED IN SRI LANKAN HOSPITAL
Sri Lankan navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath said bodies had been recovered from the sea in the area of the incident. Thirty-two people were rescued by the Sri Lankan navy and were being treated 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 and both launched a search and rescue operation, he said.
Rescue boats that reached the site did not see the ship and observed only an oil slick, Sampath said, adding that the incident took place outside Sri Lankan waters but Colombo was still committed to providing support.
Sri Lankan forces were focused on saving lives on the Iranian ship and will investigate the cause of the incident later, he said.
Sri Lankan forces had also not observed any other ship or aircraft in the area of the incident, he added.
“We are hopeful we can rescue more people and will continue (operations) until we are sure,” Sampath said.
(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe; writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar and YP Rajesh; Editing by Toby Chopra and Jon Boyle)
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