Following an engine failure at sea, an Iranian vessel evacuated over 200 crew members to Sri Lanka on Friday, an event occurring only days after a U.S. submarine torpedoed another Iranian ship in the Indian Ocean.

According to Sri Lankan Navy spokesperson Cmdr. Buddhika Sampath, the IRIS Bushehr—identified in earlier Iranian reports as a naval logistics vessel—is being towed to the port of Colombo. After undergoing immigration processing and medical screenings, the sailors are being transported to a naval base in Welisara.

“We must recognize that this is an unusual circumstance,” Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake stated on Thursday. “A ship from one party has requested entry into our port, and we are obligated to evaluate this in accordance with international conventions and treaties.”

Dissanayake noted that the decision to take charge of the IRIS Bushehr followed consultations with the ship’s captain and Iranian authorities after the vessel suffered an engine breakdown. He explained that a skeleton crew would remain on board to assist the Sri Lankan Navy in eventually navigating the ship to Trincomalee, located on the island’s northeast coast, approximately 165 miles from Colombo.

These developments follow the U.S. sinking of the Iranian warship IRIS Dena off the coast of Sri Lanka on Wednesday.

The Secretary of War remarked that this marked “the first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II.”

The Indian Navy reported on Thursday that it launched search and rescue operations after picking up a distress signal from the Dena, dispatching two aircraft and a sail training vessel. However, the Sri Lankan Navy had already commenced its own rescue mission by the time the response was initiated.

According to The Associated Press, the Sri Lankan Navy recovered 87 bodies following the strike.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi warned on Thursday that the U.S. would “bitterly regret” the sinking of the ship.

“The U.S. has committed an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles from Iran’s borders,” Araqchi posted on X. “The frigate Dena, a guest of the Indian Navy with nearly 130 sailors aboard, was struck in international waters without any warning.”

“Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret the precedent it has established,” he added.

General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Pentagon reporters on Wednesday that the Iranian ship was “effectively neutralized” during a U.S. Navy “fast attack” utilizing a single Mark 48 torpedo.

He added that the U.S. Navy achieved “immediate effect, sending the warship to the bottom of the sea.”