Sri Lanka court orders handover of 84 Iranian sailors’ bodies to embassy after US attack Tehran warship
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Sri Lanka court orders handover of 84 Iranian sailors’ bodies to embassy after US attack Tehran warship")
Sri Lankan navy rescue Iranian sailors after the US attack. Photograph: (X/@SriLankaTweet)
The Sri Lankan court issued the order on Wednesday after a request from the Galle Harbour Police in the southern port city of Galle, the media reports said. Currently, the bodies are at the morgue in Galle's National Hospital.
A Sri Lankan court has directed to hand over the bodies of 84 sailors to the embassy of Iran, who were killed after an Iranian warship was attacked off the island nation's coast last week, local media reported on Wednesday. The death of these sailors occurred after the warship, IRIS Dena, was attacked by a torpedo from a US submarine while returning from a naval exercise organised by India.
The court issued the order on Wednesday after a request from the Galle Harbour Police in the southern port city of Galle, the media reports said. Currently, the bodies are at the morgue in Galle's National Hospital.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has also issued 30-day entry visas to 208 crew members from a second Iranian vessel who were rushed in by the South Asian country after the vessel encountered with failure in the engine in the same region, Deputy Defence Minister Aruna Jayasekera told Reuters.
Diplomatic mission between Sri Lankan & Iran
The Sri Lankan foreign ministry is coordinating with the Iranian embassy in Colombo regarding the crew, while the diplomatic mission is consulting authorities in Tehran, Jayasekera added. "We are expecting a response from Tehran over the next few days," he said.
A cabinet spokesperson said on Tuesday that the vessel, IRIS Booshehr, was located about nine nautical miles off the coast and would eventually be relocated. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake had earlier stated that the ship would be moved to Trincomalee Harbour on the island’s eastern coast.
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United States officials have urged Colombo not to repatriate survivors from the two Iranian vessels, according to Reuters. Thirty-two people survived the attack on IRIS Dena. Both Washington and Tehran are important trading partners for Sri Lanka: the U.S. accounts for roughly 40 per cent of the country’s apparel exports, while Iran is among its key tea importers.
