Sri Lanka has repatriated 238 Iranian sailors, including 32 who survived a U.S. torpedo attack that sank their ship in the Indian Ocean, officials said Friday.
A U.S. submarine sank the IRIS Dena on March 4 while the ship was returning home after taking part in a naval exercise on invitation from India.
The Sri Lankan navy recovered 87 bodies and 32 were hospitalized. A second Iranian ship was brought to a southern Sri Lankan port after its crew reported technical problems.
Defense Ministry spokesman Brig. Franklin Joseph said Friday that everyone except for a few crew members from the second ship had been repatriated earlier this week.
The Iranian ship has been anchored in the eastern port of Trincomalee and no decision has been taken on what should be done with it.
Sri Lanka's President Anura Kumara Dissanayake made a difficult decision when he declined two requests on the same day — one from the U.S. to land military aircraft in Sri Lanka and another from Iran to bring its warships ashore.
