Iran warship sent distress call, we deployed vessel, aircraft to help: Indian Navy

The Indian Navy said on Thursday that it has launched search and rescue efforts after receiving a distress call from Iranian warship IRIS Dena, which was torpedoed by a US submarine off the Sri Lankan coast.

In a statement, the Navy said that the call was received at the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Colombo in the early hours of March 4. The Iranian warship was located 20 nautical miles of Galle in the Special Administrative Region (SAR) under Lankan responsibility.

As soon as the Indian Navy received the call, they promptly launched rescue operations. A long-range maritime patrol aircraft was sent to speed up search efforts that had already been started by Sri Lanka. Another aircraft with air-droppable life rafts was also kept on standby.

INS Tarangini, which was operating in the vicinity at the time of the call, was deployed to help in the search and rescue operations. Additionally,



INS Ikshak sailed from Kochi to contribute to the rescue operations, and it remains in the region to help search for missing personnel as a humanitarian measure, the Navy said.

The Indian Navy's coordination with the Sri Lankan side on the search and rescue operations is ongoing.

More than 80 sailors were killed after IRIS Dena was struck by a US submarine in what was the first time a torpedo was used since World War II. The Iranian frigate was returning after a naval exercise in India and was positioned in the Indian Ocean off the southern coast of Sri Lanka when it was targeted. Confirming the strike during a press briefing, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said that Iran thought they would be safe in international waters but instead suffered a "quiet death". Iran has strongly condemned the strike, saying IRIS Dena, was the Indian Navy's guest and by targeting it, the US will "bitterly regret" the "precedent it has set".