Iranian sailors recovering in Sri Lankan hospital after US submarine attack, authorities say

Thirty-two sailors who were rescued are being treated for minor injuries and are expected to be discharged today.

Sri Lankan authorities on Thursday said that Iranian sailors who survived a US submarine strike in the Indian Ocean were recovering at a hospital in the ⁠Sri Lankan port city of Galle, reported Reuters. 

Officials at National Hospital in Galle, along with navy sources, said that 87 bodies were sent to the facility after military rescue teams answered a distress signal sent early Wednesday morning from the IRIS Dena.

Authorities said efforts to locate around 60 crew members who are still missing will continue on Thursday. 

Thirty-two sailors who were rescued are being treated for minor injuries and are expected to be discharged on Thursday. Security was tightened at the hospital, with two police officers stationed outside Ward 58 as medical staff carried out their morning duties, the report added

The strike marks a significant escalation in the conflict. It took place hundreds of miles away in the Indian Ocean, far from the Gulf region where US and Israeli forces have been targeting Iran and Tehran has been responding with missile and drone attacks.

"An American submarine sank an Iranian ⁠warship that ⁠thought it was safe in international waters," US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the Pentagon. "Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death."

(With Reuters inputs)