India responded to distress call of Iran ship Iris Dena, deployed aircraft, vessel: Navy

"A distress call from IRIS Dena was received at the MRCC Colombo in the early hours of 04 March 26 as reported by the Sri Lankan Navy," the Navy statement said.

The Indian Navy on Thursday said a search and rescue mission was launched after it received a distress call from Iranian warship IRIS Dena, which was shot by a US torpedo on March 4 killing most of the sailors on board.

Iranian warship IRIS Dena as seen in the Bay of Bengal during International Fleet Review held at Visakhapatnam, India (AP)

"A distress call from IRIS Dena was received at the MRCC Colombo in the early hours of 04 March 26 as reported by the Sri Lankan Navy," the Navy said in a statement issued a day after the ship sank following an attack from a US submarine within Sri Lanka’s exclusive economic zone, about 19 nautical miles off the southern port city of Galle.

There were at least 130 people on board the ship when it was struck by a torpedo, in what the US defence secretary Pete Hegseth called "quiet death". Over 80 people have died in the incident, while 32 have been rescued by Sri Lanka.

In a statement, the Navy said it deployed aircraft, including a maritime patrol and vessel to locate and rescue the Iranian warship, which was heading back from India after participating in a maritime exercise in Vishakapatnam last month.

“A long-range maritime patrol aircraft at 1000 hr on 04 March 26 to augment the search efforts led by Sri Lanka. Another aircraft with air droppable life rafts was also kept standby for immediate deployment,” the Navy statement read.

It said that INS Tarangini which was operating in vicinity was deployed for aiding the rescue efforts. However, the search and rescue efforts were undertaken by the Sri Lankan Navy and other agencies by that time, it added.

The Navy said it also deployed INS Ikshak, that sailed from Kochi to augment the search efforts and continues to remain in the area to search for missing personnel.

'IRIS Dena was not 'India's guest' after leaving on Feb 25'

IRIS Dena was in India last month for a multilateral naval exercise, Milan 2026, where 74 countries participated. The three-day event was held from February 17 in Visakhapatnam.

However, sources have said that though the ill-fated vessel was a 'guest of Indian Navy', the ship did not ask for any help after war was declared on February 28.

The ship was in India till February 25 and was outside of the Indian territory and in international waters when the war began between US and Iran. The sources added that the ship did not take any assistance from the Indian side.