At least 22 Iranian sailors injured in the sinking of the frigate IRIS Dena after a US submarine attack off Sri Lanka’s southern coast have been discharged from hospital, officials said on Sunday, even as several others continue to receive treatment and authorities work on repatriating the dead.
Hospital authorities said the discharged sailors were moved under tight security. “They were dispatched in ambulances to the Sri Lanka Air Force facility at Koggala outside Galle under heavy security,” officials said. Another 10 sailors remain under treatment at the National Hospital Galle in Karapitiya.
The injured personnel had been admitted on Wednesday after the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena sank after being torpedoed by a US submarine off Galle on the island’s southern coast.
Sri Lankan authorities earlier said they had recovered 84 bodies of Iranian sailors killed in the attack. The warship had been returning home from Visakhapatnam in India after participating in a naval fleet review exercise.
Officials on Saturday said steps were being taken to repatriate the bodies, though the government noted that conditions were not yet suitable to transport them. The government said that the situation had not improved yet to try sending them by air or sea.
Meanwhile, the magisterial inquiry and post-mortems on the 84 bodies were completed in the southern port town of Galle on March 5. Survivors were able to identify 80 of the deceased personnel.
Sailors from the second Iranian ship, IRIS Bushehr, are currently being housed at a naval facility in Welisara outside Colombo.
Sri Lanka has not yet taken a final decision regarding their repatriation. Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath has said Sri Lanka would strictly adhere to the relevant international laws to deal with the situation.