Sri Lanka recovers 87 bodies from Iranian warship sunk off its coast by a US submarine

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GALLE, Sri Lanka (AP) — A torpedo fired by a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, whose navy said Wednesday it recovered 87 bodies and rescued 32 people.

The Iranian vessel sunk in the Indian Ocean was the Islamic Republic’s “prize ship,” U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said. It was one of the few instances of a submarine sinking a ship since World War II.

The sinking of the IRIS Dena illustrates a U.S.-Israeli military operation against Iran that is stretching beyond its borders. U.S. President Donald Trump has said one of the key objectives of the war is to wipe out Iran's navy.

“An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” Hegseth said at a Pentagon news briefing. “Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo.”

After Sri Lanka's navy received a distress signal from the IRIS Dena, which had 180 people on board, it sent ships and planes on a rescue mission, the country's foreign minister, Vijitha Herath, told Parliament.

But by the time Sri Lanka's navy reached the location, there was no sign of the ship, “only some oil patches and life rafts," navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath said. "We found people floating on the water.”

A video released by the U.S. Department of Defense on X showed the moment of the torpedo attack. The Iranian ship appears to be hit by an underwater explosion that causes it to break apart, as a large plume of water rises up in the air.

The 32 people rescued were admitted to a hospital in Galle, a town on Sri Lanka's southern coast, Sampath said. The bodies recovered were also being brought to land, he said.

At the National Hospital in Galle, Iranian sailors' bodies were arriving in trucks and being stored in a makeshift mortuary. The hospital was guarded by Sri Lankan police and naval personnel, as workers unloaded bodies away from view.

Dr. Anil Jasinghe, a top health ministry official, said one of those rescued is in critical condition, seven are receiving emergency treatment and others are being treated for minor injuries.

The IRIS Dena — one of Iran’s newest warships — patrolled in deep water, and was armed with heavy guns, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles and torpedoes. It carried one helicopter.

The ship had been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in February 2023, along with eight executives of an Iranian drone manufacturer that supplied weapons to Russia for use against civilian targets in Ukraine.

At least 17 Iranian naval vessels have been sunk during the ongoing war, said U.S. Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads the American military’s Central Command.

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Associated Press journalists Adam Schreck in Bangkok, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Ben Finley and Konstantin Toropin in Washington, contributed to this report.