Sri Lanka to return bodies of 84 Iranian sailors after naval attack

Sri Lankan courts have ordered that the bodies of 84 sailors, killed during last week’s attack on an Iranian naval vessel off the island’s coast, be handed over to the Iranian Embassy, local media report.

The Iranian warship IRIS Dena was struck by a torpedo from a U.S. submarine in the Indian Ocean while returning from naval exercises organised by India, Caliber.Az reports, citing Western media.

Sri Lanka and India provided shelter to 434 sailors from three Iranian warships who were threatened or pressured by the United States, creating a diplomatic dilemma as the conflict spills into the Indian Ocean.

Both South Asian countries have remained neutral in the Middle Eastern conflict, citing humanitarian reasons for accepting the Iranian sailors.

"Our approach is that every life is as precious as our own," Sri Lanka's President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said in a statement.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told parliament this week that New Delhi believes “this was the right thing to do,” and added that the Iranian foreign minister expressed gratitude for the humanitarian gesture.

By Khagan Isayev