Iranian ship asks to dock in Sri Lankan port after US sinking of frigate | US-Israel war on Iran
A day after a US submarine sank an Iranian frigate, killing more than 80 people, a second Iranian ship was reported to be in waters close to Sri Lanka and requested urgent permission to dock.
Sri Lankan minister Nalinda Jayatissa told parliament that another Iranian ship was sailing close to Sri Lanka’s territorial waters on Thursday morning. “We are taking the necessary interventions to solve this problem, limit the threat to lives and ensure regional security,” Jayatissa said.
Sources told the Guardian that the second Iranian ship was a military logistics support ship. It can be as close as 10 nautical miles from the west coast of Sri Lanka, which puts it within the country’s sovereign waters.
Sources said the ship, which reportedly had a crew of more than 100, requested to urgently dock at Colombo port for engine repairs.
On Tuesday night, the Iranian warship IRIS Dena, which was returning home after participating in a military training exercise in India, was destroyed by a US torpedo. The attack quickly sank the ship and killed at least 84 sailors.
According to Sri Lankan opposition lawmaker Namal Rajapaksa, the second ship requested permission from the government to make an emergency port visit, but permission has not yet been granted.
Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake was meeting with his cabinet and defense officials on Thursday to decide on the response.
The targeting of IRIS Dena signaled an escalation of the US-Israeli attack on Iran, which started over the weekend.
In Iran’s first reaction to the ship’s sinking, the country’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the United States would “bitterly regret” the attack. “The United States committed an atrocity at sea 2,000 miles away from the Iranian coast,” he said in a statement to X. “The Dena Frigate, which was a guest of the Indian Navy and was carrying approximately 130 sailors, was hit without any warning in international waters.”
Sri Lankan foreign minister Vijitha Herath said she spoke to Araghchi on Wednesday to “express serious concerns” about the escalation of hostilities and called for diplomatic dialogue.
Sri Lankan navy and coast guard responded to a distress call from IRIS Dena early on Wednesday morning. But by the time they arrived, the ship had sunk and the survivors clung to life rafts, leaving only a slick of oil.
The navy’s operation to rescue the missing sailors on the frigate continued on Thursday, and it was reported that many more bodies were recovered from the sea.
Military and police security was tight at the main hospital in Galle, where the 32 rescued Iranians were receiving treatment. Most survivors reportedly suffered minor burns and fractures.
GK Malani, 70, a lottery ticket seller in Galle, said there was great fear in the region after the incident. “Too many bodies were brought in,” he said. “Everyone is very afraid of the attack”
KG Gunaratne, a patient at Galle Hospital, said: “I was there when the injured were brought to the hospital. One was completely unconscious and the other had injured his hand.”
The scale of the disaster is large enough to fill the morgue of the Galle hospital, which has a capacity of 25 bodies. Hospital staff said authorities rushed to set up refrigerated shipping containers to store the bodies until legal formalities, including investigations and autopsies, were completed.
Iranian diplomatic officials refused to make any comment on the incident. The Sri Lankan government confirmed that Iran had requested assistance in repatriating the sailors’ bodies once the formalities were completed.
The official, Suchhara Rodrigo, said that no decision has been made yet on repatriating the survivors. “It needs to reach diplomatic missions through internal coordination with the army, navy and air forces,” he said.
