Sri Lanka on Friday said it had safely transferred most of the Iranian personnel from the naval vessel IRINS Bushehr to Colombo after the ship reported engine trouble, days after another Iranian frigate was sunk near the island nation amid the escalating U.S.-Israel war with Iran.

The Sri Lankan Navy said 204 of the 208 Iranian personnel aboard IRINS Bushehr had been moved safely to the port of Colombo, while four sailors remained on the vessel, which had developed problems in one of its engines.

The navy added that the ship would take at least two more days to reach the eastern port of Trincomalee from its current location outside Colombo.

Navy spokesman Commander Buddika Sampath said the Iranian sailors would be taken to the navy camp at Welisara, a northern suburb of the capital.

“They will be subject to medical examination as a formality of registration,” Sampath said.

In a televised address on Thursday, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said the vessel had sought permission to enter Sri Lankan waters citing an engine failure.

“We wanted to remain neutral while dealing with a humanitarian response," he said, adding that Sri Lanka's role was limited to responding to a request from one party involved in the conflict.

“No one deserves to die. Every life is precious,” the president said.

He also criticised opposition parties for attempting to politicise the situation.

“We won't succumb to pressure. We will maintain our neutrality," Dissanayake said.

According to the president, the ship had 208 personnel on board, including 53 officers, 84 cadets, 48 senior sailors and 23 seamen.

Dissanayake said Iran had initially sought permission on February 26 for the ship to make a four-day “goodwill visit” to the port of Colombo between March 9 and 13.

“That was not the proper way for goodwill visits. We were studying the situation. On February 27, we were told that a sailor had tripped and fallen and required assistance to bring him ashore.”

He added that after the attack on IRIS Dena, the first Iranian ship torpedoed by the United States, the second Iranian vessel asked to dock in Colombo on March 4 and 5.

Meanwhile, hospital authorities in Galle said the Karapitiya hospital’s morgue capacity was inadequate to hold the more than 90 bodies of Iranian sailors killed in the U.S. attack on the first ship.

The bodies were being kept wrapped in sawdust and ice in makeshift storage until the government decides on their repatriation.

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

The ship had been returning to Iran from Visakhapatnam in India, where it had taken part in a naval fleet review exercise.

The United States and Israel have been carrying out joint attacks on Iran since February 28, with the conflict spreading across much of the Gulf region following Tehran’s retaliation.