The surviving sailor of the sunken Iranian warship Hamed Momeneh described the horror of the US attack on IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean. The attack last month that killed 104 sailors came amid the Iran war launched by the US and Israel. The injured sailor claimed that the US intention was to “kill the crew”, adding that no warning was given before the attack.“It was about 3:00 to 3:30 in the morning when we were suddenly attacked – this attack was completely against international maritime laws. This was not a war zone, and we had no warning. The attack was made by a submarine without any warning. When the first torpedo hit, all the personnel were at their posts, and fortunately we had no casualties at that time. There were 104 crew members on board, and no one abandoned ship. Everyone stuck to their guns until the end,” the sailor told Tasnim news and was quoted by the Iranian Embassy.He said, “If their aim was only to damage the ship, they could have targeted other parts, but the main aim was to kill the crew. Nevertheless, we stood firm till the end. For us, Dena was like the soil of Iran, and there was no point in abandoning it. The forces remained with the ship till 11 pm, after which they were forced to swim some distance in the sea to reach areas near the Sri Lankan coast.”IRIS Dena was hit by a MK-48 torpedo launched from a US submarine on 4 March about 40 nautical miles off the coast of Sri Lanka near Galle. It was sailing in international waters after participating in India’s multinational naval exercise MILAN. 104 crew members were killed in the incident; 87 bodies were recovered and 32 sailors were rescued.
