Colombo, March 6 The Sri Lankan Navy said on Friday that 204 out of the 208 Iranian personnel aboard the IRINS Bushehr had been "safely" transferred to the Colombo port, two days after another Iranian frigate was sunk near the island nation.
Four sailors remain on the ship, which had experienced trouble with one of its engines, the navy said.
The navy said it would take at least two more days for the ship to reach the eastern port of Trincomalee from its current location outside the capital, Colombo.
Navy spokesman Commander Buddika Sampath said the Iranian sailors would be taken to the navy camp at Welisara, a northern suburb of Colombo.
"They will undergo a medical examination as a formality of registration," Sampath said.
In a televised address on Thursday, Dissanayake said the vessel, IRINS Bushehr, had sought permission to enter Sri Lankan waters, citing an engine failure.
"We wanted to remain neutral while responding to a humanitarian need," he said, adding that Sri Lanka's role was limited to responding to a request from one of the parties involved in the conflict.
"No one deserves to die. Every life is precious," the president said.
He also criticised the opposition parties for attempting to politicise the situation.
"We will not succumb to pressure. We will maintain our neutrality," Dissanayake said.
According to the president, the ship had 208 personnel on board, comprising 53 officers, 84 cadets, 48 senior sailors, and 23 seamen.
Dissanayake said that on February 26, Iran had sought Sri Lanka's permission to enter the Colombo port for four days between March 9 and 13 for a "goodwill visit".
"That was not the proper way to conduct goodwill visits. We were studying the situation. On February 27, we were told that a sailor had fallen and required assistance to bring him ashore."
He added that after the attack on IRIS Dena, the first Iranian ship that was torpedoed by the US, the second Iranian ship requested to dock in Colombo on March 4 and 5.
Meanwhile, the hospital authorities in Galle said that the Karapitiya hospital's morgue capacity was inadequate to hold the over 90 bodies of the Iranian sailors killed in the US attack on the first ship.
They were being kept wrapped in sawdust and ice in makeshift storage until the government could make a decision on repatriating them.
Sri Lanka said on Wednesday that it had recovered 84 bodies of Iranian sailors who died after the US submarine attack sank the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena off Galle, the island's southern coastal town.
The ship was returning home from Visakhapatnam in India after a naval fleet review exercise.
The US and Israel have launched a massive joint attack on Iran since February 28. The war has extended to almost the entire Gulf region with Iran's retaliation.
