The Sri Lankan Navy on Wednesday said it has recovered “a few bodies” from an Iranian frigate that sank off the country’s southern coast following what was described by the crew members as an explosion.“We have found a few bodies from the area where the ship had gone down,” Sri Lankan Navy spokesman Buddhika Sampath told reporters in Colombo, AFP reported. He added that search efforts for other crew members are ongoing.Sri Lanka’s deputy foreign minister also stated on local TV that at least 80 people were killed in the US submarine strike on the Iranian warship IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean, according to Reuters. Of the 180 sailors aboard IRIS Dena, 32 were rescued by the Sri Lankan Navy. However, hopes of finding the remaining 148 sailors were “fading,” according to defence minister Vijitha Herath and other officials.The cause of the reported explosion on the Iranian vessel remains unclear. The ship was reportedly en route after attending a military exercise at India’s Visakhapatnam.The sinking comes amid escalating conflict in the Middle East, following strikes on Iran by Israel and the United States.The ship issued a distress call at dawn on Wednesday, and within less than an hour, a rescue vessel reached the area about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the southern port of Galle. By the time naak rescue boats arrived, the frigate had completely sunk, leaving only an oil patch on the water’s surface.“We are keeping up a search, but we don’t know yet what happened to the rest of the crew,” a defence official said. Sri Lanka has remained neutral and repeatedly urged dialogue to resolve the conflict in the Mideast.
