New Delhi: A chartered plane arranged by Iran took off from Kochi for Armenia late on Friday carrying most of the crew of the Iranian warship IRIS Lavan that docked at the Kerala port last week through a special chartered flight, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The flight is also carrying the bodies of Iranian sailors who were killed when another warship, IRIS Dena, was torpedoed and sunk by a US submarine near Sri Lanka on March 4, the people said on condition of anonymity. The Lavan’s crew and the bodies of sailors from the Dena will be transported to Iran by road, these people said.
The Iranian side is repatriating the non-essential members of the 183-strong crew of IRIS Lavan, while a limited number of crew members will stay back to maintain the warship, the people said.
The chartered flight, likely from Turkey, travelled to Colombo to pick up the bodies of sailors killed during the sinking of IRIS Dena, the people said.
Reports in the Sri Lankan media said 45 bodies of crew members of IRIS Dena were transported from Galle National Hospital to Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport for the airlift.
Sri Lankan authorities recovered the bodies of 84 Iranian sailors after IRIS Dena was sunk. They also rescued 32 crew members who have been kept at a naval facility.
IRIS Dena had participated in an International Fleet Review and a multi-nation exercise hosted by the Indian Navy last month.
On March 1, India granted permission to three Iranian warships that were in regional waters – IRIS Dena, IRIS Lavan and IRIS Booshehr – to dock at the country’s ports in response to a request from Tehran. However, only IRIS Lavan docked at Kochi on March 4 and its 183-member crew was accommodated at naval facilities.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar has said that the Indian government’s decision to allow IRIS Lavan to dock at Kochi was “the right thing to do”, and that the decision was made on humanitarian grounds.
IRIS Booshehr docked in Colombo and its 204-member crew was sent to a Sri Lankan naval facility, while IRIS Dena was sunk by a US submarine in international waters off Sri Lanka’s southern coast.
Sri Lankan authorities and officials of the Iranian embassy in Colombo are engaged in discussions regarding the next steps for the Iranian sailors currently in Sri Lanka’s care. The Sri Lankan government has decided to grant one-month free visas to the Iranian sailors and to provide them necessary facilities on humanitarian grounds.
