Iranian sailors rescued from a torpedo attack on an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean are recovering in a hospital in southern Sri Lanka, officials said on Thursday, a day after the strike killed dozens of crew members and left many others missing.
Sri Lankan authorities said 32 sailors who survived the attack were taken to Karapitiya Teaching Hospital in the port city of Galle for treatment of injuries and exhaustion following the explosion and sinking of the vessel.
Hospital officials indicated that most of the survivors suffered relatively minor wounds and were expected to recover, Reuters reported.
The Iranian warship, identified by Sri Lankan officials as the frigate IRIS Dena, was sunk on Wednesday after being struck by a torpedo fired from a U.S. submarine in the Indian Ocean, roughly 40 nautical miles off Sri Lanka’s southern coast.
The incident occurred far from the main theatres of fighting between Iran, Israel and the United States, marking a dramatic widening of the conflict at sea.
Rescue teams responding to a distress call recovered at least 87 bodies from the water, while around 60 crew members remain missing from the roughly 180 people believed to have been aboard the ship.
Sri Lankan navy personnel reported finding survivors floating in the sea amid debris and oil slicks after the vessel sank.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that an American submarine carried out the strike, saying the Iranian warship had been targeted with a torpedo while operating in international waters.
A video released by the Pentagon appeared to show a large explosion ripping through the rear of the vessel before it began to sink.
The IRIS Dena, commissioned in 2021, had recently participated in multinational naval exercises in India before beginning its return voyage to Iran when it was attacked.
Sri Lankan authorities said search operations for missing crew members are continuing in the waters south of the island.
The strike is one of the most significant naval incidents of the escalating confrontation involving Iran, the United States and Israel, extending hostilities into the wider Indian Ocean region.
