Navy rescues 32 sailors from the frigate IRIS Dena but hopes were fading for 148 other sailors, says Sri Lankan FM
\n colombo
\nA US submarine sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka on Wednesday, killing at least 87 sailors and leaving dozens missing, officials said.
\nThe sinking came as the war sparked by a joint US-Israel attack on Iran continued to spread across the Middle East.
\n\u201cAn American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo,\u201d US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters in Washington.
\nHe called the attack \u201cquiet death\u201d and the first US sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II. \u201cLike in that war,\u201d Hegseth said, \u201cwe are fighting to win.\u201d
\nThe Sri Lankan navy recovered the bodies of 87 sailors from waters near the southern city of Galle, but 61 remained missing, police and defence officials said.
\n\u201cA search is still on for the others,\u201d a navy official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
\nEarlier, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said Sri Lankan forces had rescued 32 sailors, many wounded, from the stricken Iranian frigate IRIS Dena.
\nThe rescued sailors are being treated in Galle, where an AFP photographer saw the first batch of over two dozen bodies being transported into a hospital on Wednesday evening.
\nThe vessel issued a distress call at dawn but had completely sunk by the time a rescue ship reached the area within an hour, leaving only an oil patch on the surface, said Sri Lankan navy spokesman Buddhika Sampath.
\nThe warship was travelling after reportedly attending a military exercise in India\u2019s eastern port of Visakhapatnam.
\nThe attack was just 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Galle, the local navy said.
\nIran has not yet commented on the sinking. Tehran\u2019s ambassador in Colombo, Alireza Delkhosh, was not immediately available for comment.
\nSampath said Sri Lanka\u2019s response to the distress call was in line with its maritime obligations.
\n\u201cThis is within our search and rescue area in the Indian Ocean,\u201d Sampath told AFP.
\nSri Lanka has remained neutral and has repeatedly urged dialogue to resolve the conflict in the Middle East.
\nJust over a million Sri Lankans are employed in the region, and they are a key source of foreign exchange for the country emerging from its worst-ever economic meltdown in 2022.
\nBoth Sri Lanka\u2019s navy and the air force said they were not releasing footage of the rescue because it involved the military of another state.
\nPolice stepped up security outside the Galle hospital as the wounded Iranians were brought there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Navy rescues 32 sailors from the frigate IRIS Dena but hopes were fading for 148 other sailors, says Sri Lankan FM colombo A US submarine sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka on Wednesday, killing at least 87 sailors and leaving dozens missing, officials said. The sinking came as the war sparked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534825,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-534809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n