The Foreign Affairs Ministry has asserted that the two Sri Lankans, who were rescued from the merchant ship ‘True Confidence’ which was attacked by a missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Gulf of Aden, would be repatriated to the island soon.

Three crew members – two Filipino nationals and one Vietnamese – were killed in the missile attack on the Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned bulk carrier about 50 nautical miles off the port of Aden, setting it ablaze. These were the first civilian fatalities from the Yemeni group’s campaign against the key shipping route.

Reports confirmed that one of the rescued Sri Lankans had sustained injuries in the attack.

Later, 20 crew members and the three armed guards who were aboard the attacked vessel were rescued by the Indian Navy and taken to a hospital in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa via an Indian warship.

Images released by the Indian Navy showed a helicopter winching crew members from a small life raft in choppy seas and taking them to a naval ship.

Some wounded were shown lying in the bottom of a navy lifeboat sent to assist. They were carried on stretchers onto the ship and were shown later with heavily bandaged limbs as they were evacuated to the Djibouti hospital.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry, in a statement issued on Friday (March 08), said the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia which is accredited to Djibouti, is in contact with the relevant authorities in Djibouti to facilitate medical treatment for the injured Sri Lankan and the safe stay of the other Sri Lankan national.

The Foreign Ministry and the Embassy in Addis Ababa are currently following the situation and will take necessary action for the repatriation of Sri Lankans at the earliest, the statement read further.