An Iranian naval ship with a crew of 180 sank in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday off the southern coast of Sri Lanka, officials in the country said. About 30 people were rescued and a search was underway for any other survivors.
While the cause of the sinking was undetermined, Iran’s naval fleet has been under attack since the United States and Israel launched a war on Iran last weekend, targeting the country’s military and security apparatus.
The Iris Dena, described as a destroyer, was sailing outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters when it sent a distress signal at 5:08 a.m. local time, the Sri Lankan foreign minister, Vijitha Herath, told Sri Lanka’s Parliament. Sri Lanka responded, sending naval ships and the air force to the endangered vessel.
Sri Lankan officers rescued 32 critically injured sailors, who were taken to the Karapitiya Hospital, in the southern coastal city of Galle, Mr. Herath said.
A search was continuing for the rest of the crew, a spokesman for Sri Lanka’s navy said. Officers found bodies floating in the water where the ship went under.
“We haven’t seen the ship, but observed oil patches and life craft,” Capt. Buddhika Sampath, spokesman for the Sri Lankan navy, said during a news conference.
While the incident took place outside of Sri Lankan waters, the island nation responded in line with its commitment to an international maritime search and rescue treaty, the foreign minister said.
“We are signatories so we intervened on a humane basis as is our responsibility,” Mr. Herath told Parliament.
The Iris Dena, a prized destroyer in the Iranian navy, had participated in an international naval exercise in India last month.
Lynsey Chutel is a Times reporter based in London who covers breaking news in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
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