TEHRAN - A funeral procession was held for 19 Iranian Navy personnel in the southwestern port city of Chabahar on Tuesday.

The ceremony was held with military top brass and a number of senior state officials in attendance.

The Iranian Navy’s Public Relations Department announced on Monday that 19 sailors were martyred and 15 others injured during a naval exercise in the country’s southern waters.

The incident took place in the perimeter of Iran’s southern Jask port, in Hormozgan province.

On Sunday evening, an incident happened to the Konarak support vessel during a naval drill with other ships in waters near Jask port, where a number of the Navy’s sailors were martyred, the department said in a statement on Monday.

It extended condolences to families of the victims, suggesting that until thorough investigations are carried out, it is expected to avoid rumors and speculations.

Following the incident, the naval rescue and relief teams were immediately deployed to the scene, disembarked the injured and the bodies, and took the injured servicemen to the medical centers, the statement said.

The forces on board the doomed vessel showed exemplary courage to save their comrades, it added.

President Hassan Rouhani, Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Army Commander Abodl-Rahmi Mousavi, military chief of staff Mohammad Baqeri, IRGC Commander Hossein Salami, and Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani issued separate messages offering condolences over the martyrdom of the sailors.
  
NA/PA