Sri Lankan Orders Release of Eighty-Four Iranian Sailors’ Bodies

(MENAFN) A Sri Lankan court has directed hospital authorities to hand over the bodies of 84 Iranian sailors to Iran’s Embassy in Colombo following a US submarine attack on the Iranian warship IRIS Dena last week. Chief Magistrate Sameera Dodangoda issued the order after police filed a request, according to the Daily Mirror.

The sailors’ bodies are currently stored in two mobile cold storage units at a hospital in Galle, a southern coastal city. Iran reported that 104 of the 130 sailors on board were killed, while Sri Lankan authorities recovered 84 bodies, rescued 32 sailors, and have 14 still missing.

Sri Lanka also evacuated 208 crew members from another Iranian vessel, IRIS Bushehr, after it requested assistance. Both ships were returning from the Milan Peace 2026 naval drills in India. The government has granted one-month visas to the rescued sailors.

Debris and oil from the sunken IRIS Dena washed ashore along parts of southern Sri Lanka, prompting cleanup and environmental monitoring efforts. Opposition politicians have expressed concern that sheltering the sailors could entangle the cash-strapped nation in the escalating Middle East conflict.

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