Iran probes cause of military vessel sinking near Sri Lanka

COLOMBO: Iranian diplomats on Wednesday sought clues over cause of sinking off Sri Lankan coast, Al Jazeera reported.

At the moment, the Sri Lankan government has not issued any statement about the potential causes.

There was a distress signal from this vessel, approximately 40km (25 miles) off the coast here in Galle, which is just south of the capital, Colombo. They then sent out boats to try to assist the survivors. At this point in time, sources say there is no evidence that there was another boat in the water, as per Al Jazeera.

The Iranian ambassador Alireza Delkhosh, said they have dispensed the military attache and consular official to the hospital to try to see if they can talk to survivors to get some sense of what exactly happened.

Earlier in the day, a Sri Lankan navy spokesperson told Al Jazeera that bodies, suspected to be those of crew members, have been recovered in an ongoing rescue operation for the crew of an Iranian military ship that made a distress call just outside the island's territorial waters earlier.

The spokesperson said they could not give details on the number of dead.

Thirty-two people were rescued from the vessel and are receiving treatment in hospital, the spokesperson said, adding that they did not observe any other ships in the area, as per Al Jazeera.  (ANI)

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