Colombo, March 8 At least 22 Iranian sailors from the IRIS Dena, the Iranian ship that was torpedoed by the US, have been discharged, hospital authorities said on Sunday.
“They were transported by ambulance to the Sri Lanka Air Force facility at Koggala, outside Galle, under heavy security,” officials said. Another 10 sailors are still being treated at the National Hospital in Galle.
They were admitted on Wednesday after the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena sank after being torpedoed by a US submarine off the southern coast of the island.
Sri Lanka said on Wednesday that it had recovered the bodies of 84 Iranian sailors who were killed in the attack. The ship was returning home from Visakhapatnam in India after a naval fleet review exercise.
Sri Lanka said on Saturday that steps were being taken to repatriate their bodies.
The government said that the situation had not improved enough to try sending them by air or sea.
The magisterial inquiry and post-mortem examinations on the 84 bodies were completed in the southern port town of Galle on March 5. Eighty of the 84 personnel were identified by the survivors.
The sailors from the second ship, IRIS Bushehr, are currently at the naval facility in Welisara, outside Colombo.
Sri Lanka has not yet made a decision on their repatriation. Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath has said that Sri Lanka would strictly adhere to relevant international laws to deal with the situation.
