India on Thursday broke its silence a full day after a US submarine torpedoed an Iranian warship off the southern Sri Lankan coast, focusing on its participation in rescue efforts and avoiding any comment that might annoy the US.

The bland media statement did not mention that IRIS Dena was returning from an India-organised naval exercise in Visakhapatnam when it was targeted off the southern Sri Lankan coast. It did not even mention that the ship was Iranian or that a US submarine had sunk it; nor did it express any reservation about the frigate being attacked so close to India.

“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 Lanka Navy,” an Indian Navy statement said on Thursday night.

“The ship was operating 20 NM West of Galle in the SAR region under Sri Lanka responsibility,” the navy said.

The statement said that after receiving the information, the Indian navy launched SAR (search and rescue) efforts at 10am, deploying a long-range maritime patrol aircraft to boost Sri Lanka’s search efforts.

“Another aircraft with air droppable life rafts was also kept (on) standby for immediate deployment,” the Indian navy said.

“INS Tarangini, which was operating in the vicinity, was deployed for aiding the rescue efforts and arrived in search area by 1600 hr…. By this time SAR had been undertaken by the Sri Lanka Navy and other agencies.”

INS Ikshak, too, sailed from Kochi to help with the search and is still in the area, looking for shipwrecked personnel.

Earlier in the day, the Congress had expressed shock at the Narendra Modi government’s silence on the sinking of the Iranian ship. It said that never before had the Indian government looked so “timid and fearful”.

Hospital authorities in Galle said military rescuers had responded to an early morning distress call and brought in 87 bodies. Another 32 personnel had been rescued and were under treatment in hospital.

About 60 people are missing from an estimated 180 on board, the Sri Lankan authorities said.

The Iranian warship had participated in the International Fleet Review and multilateral exercise, Milan 2026, organised in India last month. The Indian navy had accorded a warm welcome to the Iranian frigate when it arrived in Visakhapatnam in the third week of February.

“An Iranian naval vessel – returning from the Milan 2026 International Fleet Review, where it had been invited by India – was sunk by a US submarine at the edge of Indian waters near Sri Lanka,” Congress leader Pawan Khera posted.

“Does India have no influence left in its own neighbourhood? Or has that space also been quietly ceded to Washington and Tel Aviv?”