Sri Lanka evacuates 208 Iranian crew members after U.S. submarine strike
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Sri Lanka began evacuating 208 crew members from a second Iranian ship, a day after a US submarine attack on an Iranian warship in the same area left 87 dead and scores still missing.
According to Reuters, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told reporters at a press conference in Colombo, “After detailed discussions with all parties, Sri Lanka decided to help the Iranian ship.” he said.
Dissanayake said there were 53 officers, 84 students, 48 senior sailors and 23 sailors among the crew evacuated from the ship near Colombo port.
Iranian warship IRIS Dena is seen in the Bay of Bengal. (AP Photo)
The Iranian ship IRIS Dena was sunk off the coast of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday. Authorities sent two freezers to store 87 bodies found at sea.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the ship was “effectively neutralized” in the Navy’s “swift attack” using a single Mark 48 torpedo. He added that the US Navy achieved “immediate effect by sending the warship to the bottom of the sea.”
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An injured Iranian sailor is carried on a stretcher at Galle National Hospital, where the sailors are receiving treatment following a submarine attack on the Iranian military ship IRIS Dena off the coast of Sri Lanka, on March 5, 2026, in Galle, Sri Lanka. (Reuters/Thilina Kaluthotage)
Iran claims the ship was sunk in international waters without any warning.
“The United States will bitterly regret the precedent it has set,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a post on channel X. he said.
Iran asked Sri Lanka to help repatriate the bodies.
Sri Lankan officials said Dena was on his way home after participating in India’s naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal between February 18 and 25.
Medical workers remove the bodies of Iranian sailors who died when the IRIS Dena warship sank outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters from a vehicle on Wednesday, March 4, 2026 in Galle, Sri Lanka. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
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It was stated that search and rescue efforts will continue for approximately 10 people whose names were not disclosed.
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