JAKARTA - A total of 101 people were missing and 78 were injured after an Iranian warship sank after allegedly being attacked by a submarine off the coast of Sri Lanka on Wednesday, March 4.
Citing The Times of Israel, the frigate is armed with heavy cannons, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles, and torpedoes and can carry helicopters.
The frigate, named 'IRIS Dena', with a crew of 180 people, had sent an emergency call this morning. It is unclear who attacked the ship, which sources say has sunk.
Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said his country had rescued 32 sailors "seriously injured" on board the IRIS Dena, which sank just off the shores of the island nation's territorial waters.
Herath said two Sri Lankan navy vessels and a plane were deployed for the rescue operation, but did not mention the cause of the Iranian warship's sinking.
Sri Lanka's defense ministry said it was searching for more than 100 other crew members of the IRIS Dena, which sank about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the island.
However, a Sri Lankan navy spokesman told Reuters that reports of 101 missing were not true, but confirmed that 32 people injured in the incident had been rescued by the Sri Lankan navy.
Sri Lanka Navy spokesperson Buddhika Sampath said the rescue operation of the Iranian frigate was in accordance with Sri Lanka's maritime obligations.
He added that 32 Iranian sailors had been rushed to the main hospital in Galle, 115 kilometers (70 miles) south of the capital Colombo.
Sri Lanka's police increased security outside the Galle hospital after the injured Iranian was taken there by the local navy.
An opposition lawmaker in Sri Lanka asked parliament whether the ship had been bombed as part of the ongoing US-Israeli attack on Iran, but there was no immediate response from the Sri Lankan government.
Both the Sri Lankan navy and air force said they would not release the rescue footage as it involved another country's military.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
