The Indian Navy said on Thursday that a search and rescue mission was launched after it received a distress call from the Iranian warship Iris Dina, which was fired by a US torpedo on March 4, killing most of the sailors on board.
“A distress call was received from IRIS Dena at the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Colombo in the early hours of 4 March 26 as reported by the Sri Lanka Navy,” the Navy said in a statement issued a day after the ship sank following an attack by a US submarine within Sri Lanka’s exclusive economic zone, about 19 nautical miles off the southern port city of Galle.
There were at least 130 people on board the ship when it was hit by a torpedo, in what US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described as a “quiet death.” More than 80 people died in the accident, while Sri Lanka rescued 32 others.
Also Read: IRIS Dena was not ‘India’s guest’ after leaving on February 25: Government sources
The Navy said in a statement that it had deployed aircraft, including a maritime patrol and a ship, to locate and rescue the Iranian warship, which was returning from India after participating in a naval exercise in Vishakhapatnam last month.
“A long-range maritime patrol aircraft was dispatched at 1000 hours on 4 March 26 to reinforce the Sri Lanka-led search effort. Another aircraft equipped with air-droppable life rafts was also kept on standby for immediate deployment,” the Navy statement said.
INS Tarangini, which was operating in the vicinity, was deployed to assist in the rescue efforts, she said. She added that search and rescue efforts had been undertaken by the Sri Lanka Navy and other agencies by then.
Read also: Naval exercise on February 16, attack on March 4: Timeline of IRIS Dena, which was hit by an American torpedo
The Navy said it has also deployed ship INS Ekshak, which sailed from Kochi, to enhance search efforts and continues to remain in the area to search for the missing personnel.
“Iris Deena was not India’s guest after leaving on February 25.”
IRIS Dena was in India last month to participate in a multilateral naval exercise, Milan 2026, where 74 countries participated. The three-day event was held on February 17 in Visakhapatnam.
However, sources said that although the ill-fated ship was a “guest of the Indian Navy”, it did not seek any assistance after the declaration of war on February 28.
The ship was in India until February 25 and was outside Indian territory and in international waters when the war between the United States and Iran began. The sources added that the ship did not receive any assistance from the Indian side.
