Khaberni - Sri Lankan police announced the recovery of the bodies of 87 sailors from the Iranian frigate, which had been reported sunk off the Sri Lankan coast.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Sri Lankan Navy announced it had recovered the bodies of several sailors who were aboard an Iranian warship that had been attacked, leading to its sinking in the territorial waters off the island.
Sri Lanka had sent ships and aircraft at dawn to rescue 30 Iranian sailors on board the Iranian frigate "IRIS Dena," concurrent with the announcement by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard targeting a U.S. destroyer in the Indian Ocean with missiles, causing damage and starting a fire on it.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijita Herath said that emergency teams transferred 30 injured sailors from the frigate, which has a crew of 180 people, to a hospital in southern Sri Lanka.
Sources from the Sri Lankan Navy and the Ministry of Defense reported about 100 people missing and 78 injured due to a submarine attack on the Iranian ship.
Navy spokesman Comando Bodika Sampath told Al Jazeera Net that rescue teams from the Navy and the Air Force headed to the location of the ship after receiving a distress signal from it about 40 nautical miles south of Sri Lanka.
Damage to a U.S. Destroyer
Meanwhile, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard targeted a U.S. destroyer in the Indian Ocean with missiles, causing it to be damaged and a fire to break out on it.
Fars News Agency reported a statement by the Revolutionary Guard, which stated that the targeted destroyer was refueling from a U.S. tanker about 650 kilometers from the Iranian coasts in the Indian Ocean.
According to the statement, the destroyer was hit by "Qader 380" and "Talayieh" missiles, causing a large fire on both vessels.
Since Saturday morning, Israel and the United States have mounted a military attack on Iran, killing guide Ali Khamenei and several high-ranking security and military officials and civilian victims. Iran responded by launching rocket barrages and drones toward Israel and U.S. bases in Gulf States, some of which inflicted damage on civilian infrastructure, including airports, ports, and various buildings.
