US strikes Iranian ship off the Sri Lanka's southern coast
GLOBAL: Sri Lankan authorities reported the recovery of approximately 80 bodies of Iranian sailors following a US submarine attack that sank the Iranian frigate "IRIS Dena" off the southern coast Wednesday morning. The Sri Lankan Navy rescued 32 sailors from the vessel which had around 180 on board.
IRIS Dena was returning through international waters after participating Naval exercise MILAN 2026a at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh last month.
Meanwhile US War Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the sinking marking the first use of a torpedo from a submarine to sink an enemy ship since World War II and noted that the frigate was named after General Qasem Soleimani.
An emergency alert about the sinking was received by the Sri Lankan Navy at 5 am Wednesday leading to a rescue operation. The recovered bodies are currently at the Karapitiya hospital in Galle, near Colombo.
India has not made any official statement over the incident.