March 4 (Reuters) – A submarine attack on an Iranian ship off the coast of Sri Lanka has left at least 101 people missing, one dead and 78 injured, sources in Sri Lanka’s navy and defence ministry told Reuters on Wednesday.
It was unclear who attacked the ship, which the sources said has now sunk.
A Sri Lankan navy spokesman said the report of 101 people being missing was not true, and that 32 people injured in the incident had been rescued by Sri Lankan navy and were under treatment in hospital.
Sri Lanka’s foreign minister told parliament earlier in the day that the navy had responded to a distress call from the ship and launched rescue operations at 6:00 a.m. (1230 GMT).
“What we know at this point is that 79 people were rescued and brought to the hospital and one of them was seriously injured. Another 101 are believed to be missing and the vessel has sunk,” a Sri Lankan navy source, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media, said.
The sources said one of the people brought to the hospital had died.
Foreign minister Vijitha Herath did not give further details in parliament but said the military had rescued at least 30 people who were on board and said Sri Lanka would take appropriate action.
Local media reported the ship had signalled it was in distress off the coast of Galle in southern Sri Lanka, and that the injured had been admitted to a hospital in the city.
(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe; writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Toby Chopra)
