More than 200 Iranian sailors leave Sri Lanka on special aircraft

More than 200 Iranian nationals who were held at the Welisara Detention Centre and the Koggala Detention Centre have left the island on a special aircraft on Tuesday (14).

Deputy Minister of Defence Major General (Retd) Aruna Jayasekara stated that a total of 32 crew members rescued from Iranian navy ship IRIS Dena, which was sunk by a US submarine off Sri Lanka, and 208 crew members of IRIS Bushehr who were accommodated in Sri Lanka left for Iran.

He said that the special Turkish flight left for Iran this evening (14).

The attack on the IRIS Dena brought the Middle East conflict into the Indian Ocean, killing 104 sailors in the early days of the US and Israeli war against Iran, according to Iranian authorities.

The bodies of 84 victims were recovered and have been repatriated.

Last month, Iran’s ambassador to Sri Lanka Alireza Delkhosh said Tehran was in talks with Colombo to repatriate sailors from the IRIS Bushehr which was given safe harbour in Sri Lanka after the IRIS Dena was sunk.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake also noted that Sri Lanka provided protection to the IRIS Bushehr crew on humanitarian grounds in line with the 1907 Hague Convention.

A third Iranian ship - the IRIS Lavan, with 183 crew members - sought shelter in India’s Kochi port in early March.

More than 100 non-essential crew of the IRIS Lavan have since left India.