COLOMBO
\nSri Lanka rescued 32 \u201ccritically wounded\u201d sailors aboard the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena, which sank Wednesday just outside the island\u2019s territorial waters, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said.
\nNo information was immediately available on the cause of the explosion that sank the vessel, but Herath told parliament that the injured sailors were taken to a hospital in the island\u2019s south.
\nThe 180-crew frigate had issued a distress call at dawn.
\nSri Lanka\u2019s defence ministry said it was searching for the other crew of the IRIS Dena, which went down about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the island.
\n\u201cWe are keeping up a search, but we don\u2019t know yet what happened to the rest of the crew,\u201d an official told AFP, dimming prospects for finding any more survivors.
\nHerath said two Sri Lankan navy vessels and an aircraft were deployed for the rescue operation, but did not say what caused the Iranian warship to sink.
\nAn opposition legislator asked in parliament whether the vessel had been bombed as part of the ongoing US-Israeli attacks against Iran, but there was no immediate response from the government.
\nNavy spokesman Buddhika Sampath said their operation was in line with Sri Lanka\u2019s maritime obligations and that 32 Iranian sailors were evacuated to the main hospital in Galle, 115 kilometres (70 miles) south of the capital Colombo.
\n\u201cWe responded to the distress call under our international obligations, as this is within our search and rescue area in the Indian Ocean,\u201d Sampath told AFP.
\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 by the local navy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
COLOMBO Sri Lanka rescued 32 \u201ccritically wounded\u201d sailors aboard the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena, which sank Wednesday just outside the island\u2019s territorial waters, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said. No information was immediately available on the cause of the explosion that sank the vessel, but Herath told parliament that the injured sailors were taken to a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-534905","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n