COLOMBO, April 15 (Reuters) – Over 200 Iranian crew members from two warships who were rescued by Sri Lanka have been sent back to their homeland, a top official said on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka rescued 32 Iranian crew from the warship IRIS Dena on March 4 after it was hit by a torpedo from a U.S. submarine.
The ship was returning from a naval exercise organised by India, amid the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
Sri Lanka also rescued 208 crew from a second vessel, IRIS Booshehr on March 5 that had also requested assistance from Colombo after it ran into engine trouble.
“The crew of both ships were flown out about 11 p.m. on a special flight on Tuesday night,” Deputy Defence Minister Aruna Jayasekera told Reuters.
After its crew was offloaded in Colombo, IRIS Booshehr was towed to waters off Sri Lanka’s eastern coast of Trincomalee eventually reaching on Tuesday morning.
“There are about 8-10 Iranian crew remaining aboard to assist operations,” Jayasekera added.
Sri Lanka granted 30-day entry visas to the crew members and housed them in navy and air force camps before arrangements were made for their return to Iran.
A chartered plane arranged by Iran took back the bodies of 84 crew members from the Dena who were killed in the U.S. attack.
(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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