Star Metro - Sri Lanka to repatriate remains of 84 Iranians killed in US attack

The seamen were killed when IRIS Dena was torpedoed on March 4 just off the coast of Sri Lanka, in a move that extended the Middle East war to the Indian Ocean.

"All domestic procedures have been completed, and the Iranians are bringing a chartered aircraft for the repatriation," spokesman Thushara Rodrigo told AFP.

"The 32 sailors who were rescued by our navy will remain in Sri Lanka."

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, Rodrigo said.

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.

- 'Humanitarian considerations' -

Crew from the Bushehr are held at a navy camp just north of Colombo, 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.

Both 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.

The ships had been taking part in a naval exercise organised by India off the coast of Visakhapatnam when the US and Israel began bombing Iran.

A local undertaker said the embalmed remains of the Iranian sailors were being sent back in sealed boxes.

They are to be flown out of Sri Lanka from Mattala International Airport in the south of the country, officials said, as security was stepped up at the airport, which is located within a wildlife sanctuary.

The first batch of 46 bodies was already at the airport by Friday afternoon, awaiting an Iranian chartered cargo plane, an official told AFP.

The bodies, which were plucked from the Indian Ocean, were taken to Karapitiya Hospital in Galle, 115 kilometres (72 miles) south of the capital, where autopsies were carried out.

A local magistrate ordered that the bodies be handed over to the Iranian embassy in Colombo for repatriation to the next of kin.

There was no immediate comment from the Iranian embassy when contacted by AFP.

F.Leblanc--SMC