Sri Lanka has discharged 22 Iranian sailors rescued after their warship was sunk by a US submarine, with 10 more still hospitalised and over 60 missing.
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka has discharged 22 Iranian crew members from hospital after they were rescued from life rafts following the torpedoing of their warship by a US submarine.
The crew had been receiving treatment at Karapitiya Hospital in the southern port city of Galle since Wednesday after the IRIS Dena was attacked just outside Sri Lankan territorial waters.
The strike on the Dena marked the first military action far beyond the Middle East since the United States and Israel initiated their war on Iran a week ago.
Those released overnight have been relocated to a beach resort in the same district as the Sri Lankan navy concluded its search for survivors from the vessel on Sunday.
An official Sri Lankan estimate indicates just over 60 people remain missing from the sunken warship.
A medical officer at the hospital confirmed that “another 10 are still undergoing treatment” and noted that the bodies of 84 Iranians recovered from the Indian Ocean were also at the facility.
Sri Lankan officials have firmly denied claims that Colombo is under pressure from Washington to prevent the Iranians from returning home.
The government stated it would be guided solely by international law and its own domestic legislation in handling the situation.
Officials added that the survivors from the Dena are being treated in accordance with international humanitarian law, and the government has contacted the International Committee of the Red Cross for assistance.
The island nation is also providing safe haven for another 219 Iranian sailors from a second ship, the IRIS Bushehr, which was permitted to enter Sri Lankan waters after the Dena was sunk.
The crew from the Bushehr have been moved to a Sri Lanka Navy camp at Welisara, just north of the capital, and their vessel has been taken over by the Sri Lankan navy.
A navy spokesman said plans to take the Bushehr to the north-eastern port of Trincomalee have been delayed due to an engine failure and other technical and administrative issues.
A US State Department spokesperson said the disposition of the Bushehr personnel and the rescued Iranian crew was a matter for Sri Lanka to decide.
“The United States, of course, respects and recognises Sri Lanka’s sovereignty in the handling of this situation,” the spokesperson stated.
Meanwhile, India announced on Saturday that it had allowed a third Iranian warship, the IRIS Lavan, to dock at one of its ports on humanitarian grounds after it also reported engine problems.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said “I think it was the humane thing to do, and I think we were guided by that principle,” regarding the decision.
The Lavan docked in the south-west Indian port of Kochi on Wednesday, with Jaishankar noting that “a lot of the people on board were young cadets” who have since disembarked to a nearby facility.
All three ships were part of a multinational naval exercise hosted by India before the war in the Middle East commenced last week.
Sri Lankan authorities have also reported an oil slick at a nearby beach resort, deploying about 50 workers and volunteers for a clean-up operation while sending boats to check for further pollution.
Samantha Gunasekara, chairman of the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA), stated “We saw a thin oil patch at Hikkaduwa beach yesterday.”
He added that parts of a damaged life raft, a barrel of lubricants, and footwear had washed ashore, with officials working to determine if they originated from the sunken Dena.
The Sun Malaysia
