Sri Lanka to repatriate remains of 84 Iranian sailors killed in US attack

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Sri Lanka is repatriating the remains of 84 Iranian sailors who died when their frigate was sunk nine days ago by a United States submarine torpedo attack, as it sailed in international waters far from the theatre of war, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The repatriation was announced on Friday and will be carried out with a chartered aircraft sent by Iran, spokesman Thushara Rodrigo told the AFP news agency. The Iranian embassy also confirmed the bodies were set to return, the Reuters news agency reported.

The sailors were killed when IRIS Dena was torpedoed on March 4 just off the coast of Sri Lanka, in a move that extended the ongoing Middle East war to the Indian Ocean, and has been criticised as a flagrant violation of international law.

“The 32 sailors who were rescued by our navy will remain in Sri Lanka,” Rodrigo said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had been contacted regarding the injured sailors, but they were not involved in the repatriation of the bodies, he added.

A second Iranian warship, IRIS Bushehr, was allowed into Sri Lankan waters a day after Dena was sunk. Sri Lanka is providing safe harbour for the ship and its crew of 219.

Sri Lankan officials said they have not begun discussions on repatriating the Bushehr crew and those rescued from Dena, but they will be treated in line with Colombo’s treaty obligations.

Of the 32 sailors rescued and hospitalised, 22 have since been discharged and are being held at an air force base in the south of the island, away from the Bushehr crew. Sri Lanka is currently hosting a total of 251 Iranian sailors.

Crew from the Bushehr are held at the camp while their ship has been taken over by Sri Lanka’s navy, which is trying to repair one of the two engines that were reportedly malfunctioning.

A third Iranian ship passed Sri Lanka and entered safe harbour in India’s southern port of Kochi. That vessel’s 183 crew are in Indian custody.

Colombo and New Delhi have said they provided shelter to the Iranian sailors due to “humanitarian considerations”, amid fears that they too could be killed in US attacks.