Colombo, 13 March: Sri Lanka is preparing to return the remains of 84 Iranian sailors killed when an Iranian naval vessel was destroyed in a U.S. submarine torpedo strike in the Indian Ocean earlier this month, officials said on Friday.
The sailors were among roughly 130 crew members aboard the Iranian warship IRIS Dena, which sank on March 4 about 40 kilometres off Sri Lanka’s southern coastline in international waters. The incident occurred far from the main battlefield of the ongoing U.S.–Israel conflict with Iran and has widened tensions into the Indian Ocean region.
Sri Lankan naval forces rescued 32 sailors from the water after the attack. Authorities said those survivors will remain in Sri Lanka for the time being.
The bodies recovered from the wreck were stored at Galle National Hospital before being transported under police escort to Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, where they are scheduled to be flown to Iran aboard a chartered aircraft sent by Tehran. A magistrate in the southern city of Galle authorised the release of the remains to the Iranian embassy.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said shortly after the incident that the Iranian warship had met what he described as a “quiet death.”
Iran strongly condemned the strike. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Washington of committing “an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran’s shores,” warning that the United States would “come to bitterly regret the precedent it has set.”
Sri Lanka has also allowed a second Iranian warship, IRIS Bushehr, to enter its waters for safe harbour. Officials say the country is currently hosting 251 Iranian sailors, including those rescued from the Dena and crew members from the Bushehr.
Meanwhile, another Iranian naval vessel carrying 183 sailors has docked at India’s southern port of Kochi, where the crew are being held under Indian supervision.
Authorities in both Sri Lanka and India said their decision to provide shelter to the Iranian sailors was based on “humanitarian considerations,” amid concerns that further U.S. military action in the region could endanger them.
The sinking has triggered a new round of regional tension, with Iran launching retaliatory strikes across parts of the Middle East targeting Gulf countries aligned with the United States.
