Sri Lanka on Friday handed over the bodies of 45 Iranian sailors killed in an attack on an Iranian warship off the island’s southern coast to Iran’s embassy, officials said.

Chief Magistrate Sameera Dodangoda had issued an order on March 11 directing the Director of the National Hospital in Karapitiya to release the bodies following a request from the Galle harbour police.

Sri Lanka had said last Wednesday that it recovered 84 bodies of Iranian sailors after a US submarine attack sank the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena off Galle on the island nation’s southern coast.

The warship had been returning to Iran from Visakhapatnam, India, where it had participated in a naval fleet review exercise.

Defence Ministry Secretary Sampath Thuiyakontha told reporters that the 45 bodies would be repatriated to Iran on Friday from the southern international airport at Mattala.

Authorities had brought the bodies to the Karapitiya hospital along with 32 survivors of the US torpedo attack last Thursday.

The Sri Lankan government had earlier said the bodies would be kept in the country until the situation improved to allow their repatriation.

Officials said the remains were stored under makeshift refrigeration after the hospital’s morgue capacity proved inadequate.

The 32 survivors were discharged on Sunday and later moved to the nearby Sri Lankan airbase at Koggala in Galle.