Colombo, March 13 – The bodies of 84 identified Iranian sailors killed in the March 4 US attack on the warship IRIS Dena off the coast of Sri Lanka were repatriated to Iran, the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry said on Friday.
The bodies are being transported to Iran via a special flight that departed Friday afternoon from Mattala International Airport in the country's Southern Province.
On March 11, Galle Chief Magistrate Sameera Dodangoda ordered that the bodies, which had been kept in two mobile cold storage units at the Galle National Hospital, be handed over to officials from the Iranian embassy in Sri Lanka, the ministry said.
The magistrate directed the hospital director to release the remains following a request submitted to the Galle Magistrate's Court by the Galle Harbor Police, the ministry said.
Iran has also announced that the bodies of the sailors killed in the incident would soon be returned home. In a statement, the Iranian Army's public relations office said the bodies would be transferred to Iran with the joint efforts of Iran's Foreign Ministry and the Sri Lankan government, Xinhua news agency reported.
Earlier this week, Sri Lanka said that it was not informed in advance about a US strike on the Iranian warship, IRIS Dena, in the seas near the island nation's maritime boundary.
Speaking at the weekly cabinet media briefing on Tuesday, Lankan Minister of Health and Mass Media Nalinda Jayatissa said Sri Lanka's Navy responded as soon as possible when they were made aware of the incident.
Jayatissa said he is not aware who first alerted Sri Lankan authorities of the incident.
He said 32 people were rescued alive, of whom 10 are still receiving treatment. A total of 87 bodies were recovered during search operations.
On March 4, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had said that a US submarine sank an Iranian warship in international waters.
"An American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters," Hegseth said at a Pentagon briefing. "Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo."
He further said it was the first sinking of an enemy vessel by a torpedo since World War II.
The Iranian warship had taken part in a naval exercise held in the Bay of Bengal from February 18 to 25, according to the drill's website.