Several bodies suspected to be of the personnel of the Iranian vessel were found, Sri Lanka Navy spokesman Buddhika Sampath said.
“Though it was beyond our waters, it is within our search and rescue region. We are the first responders as per the international obligations,” he said.
“We found people floating in the water and rescued them. Later on, we found upon inquiring that they belonged to the Iranian ship. We swiftly transferred them to the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital, where they are undergoing treatment,” he added.
Search and rescue operations are still underway in the area, he said.
“We suspect the dead bodies also belong to the same ship as we found them in the demarcated area,” he said.
The Iranian warship that sank off Sri Lanka’s southern coast had reportedly been attacked while it was outside Sri Lankan waters, according to foreign media reports.
However, Sampath said that this cannot be determined at the moment, as search and rescue operations are the current priority.
He said that when the Navy initially responded to the location of the distress call, a vessel could not be found, and only traces of oil spills were visible.
“We will do technical investigations following the search and rescue operations. As the Sri Lanka Navy, we completely reject these reports,” he said, adding that the incident is still being treated as an accident. (Newswire)