The warship partially sank on Sunday afternoon after an accident probably caused by problems in the ship’s ballast tank or water infiltration during repairs, according to Salman Zarbi, the head of Iran’s Shipbuilding and Offshore Industries Complex (ISOICO).
Several people were injured in the incident that occurred near a repair facility 35 kilometers west of the city of Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan province.
Experts say recent upgrades on Sahand, one of Iran’s most modern destroyers, may have made it top-heavy.
The missile carrier vessel was built in 2012 and was named after a ship that was sunk by the US military in 1988, during a day-long clash in the Arabian Sea.
Once the ship can be refloated, it would take Iran months to repair it.
