An Iran embassy staff member (right) stands outside the Karapitiya hospital in the southern city of Galle Thursday where the rescued Iranian sailors are being kept for treatment.
Sri Lanka said it was trying to “safeguard lives” on a second Iranian ship off its coast Thursday, a day after 87 people were killed in a US submarine strike on an Iranian warship in the same region.
The island’s security council, which includes top military officials, met to discuss what steps to take, two government sources told Reuters, without saying whether it was another military ship.
“The President, defence officials, and all other relevant officials are aware and we are addressing the situation,” cabinet spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa said in response to questions from an opposition leader.
“We are doing our utmost to safeguard lives,” he said, without saying how.
The ship was near the port of Colombo, in the country’s exclusive economic zone but outside its maritime boundary, Jayatissa said.
The first ship, IRIS Dena, was sunk on Wednesday 19 nautical miles off Sri Lanka’s southern port city of Galle and that two freezers had been dispatched to store the 87 bodies recovered from the sea, he added.
Tehran has asked Colombo to help repatriate the bodies, Sri Lanka’s deputy minister for health and mass media, Hansaka Wijemuni, told Reuters, adding that a timeframe had not yet been determined.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the warship was struck in international waters without warning thousands of miles from the Gulf, where US and Israeli forces are striking Iran and Tehran is retaliating with missile and drone attacks.
“The US will bitterly regret the precedent it has set,” Araqchi said in a post on X, adding that the warship was a guest of India’s navy and was carrying almost 130 sailors.
IRIS Dena had taken part in a naval exercise organised by India in the Bay of Bengal from February 18 to 25 and was on its way back, according to the drill’s website and Sri Lankan officials.
Sri Lankan military rescuers responded to an early-morning distress call from the frigate on Wednesday and found 32 survivors.
Search and rescue operations would continue for an estimated 10 people who remain unaccounted for, they said.
The Indian Navy said it had also launched a search and rescue operation to “augment” Sri Lanka’s efforts.
The attack dramatically widened the scope of the war.
“An American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the Pentagon. “Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death.”
A Pentagon video purporting to have captured the attack showed a huge explosion blowing apart the rear of the vessel, lifting it from the water, and causing it to begin sinking from the stern.
Related Story
Discover more from Truth Inspire Your Day
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
