Sri Lanka Orders Return of Iranian Sailors’ Bodies

(MENAFN) A Sri Lankan court on Wednesday directed hospital officials to transfer the remains of 84 Iranian sailors to Iran's Embassy in Colombo. The sailors had been recovered from the sea after an assault by a US submarine last week.

The directive was issued by Galle Chief Magistrate Sameera Dodangoda in response to a police request, according to a media outlet.

Currently, the bodies are being stored in two mobile cold storage units at a hospital in Galle, a coastal city in the southern part of Sri Lanka.

The sailors were among the casualties of the US submarine strike on the Iranian warship IRIS Dena in Sri Lankan waters last Wednesday. In the wake of the attack, Sri Lanka’s navy conducted a rescue operation.

Iran’s military stated that the US assault resulted in 104 fatalities out of 130 sailors on board. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan authorities reported retrieving 84 bodies from the sea and saving 32 sailors, with 14 still unaccounted for.

In the following days, Sri Lanka also assisted 208 crew members from another Iranian ship, IRIS Bushehr, after it sought help from Colombo.

Both vessels had been returning from the Milan Peace 2026 naval exercises in India.
Sri Lanka announced on Monday that it would provide the rescued Iranian sailors with one-month visas.

MENAFN14032026000045017167ID1110860392