Repatriation of 84 Iranian sailors whose bodies were hit by a US torpedo

 

Video released by the Pentagon shows the moment a US torpedo struck Iranian warship the Iris Dena on 4 March (Image: BBC)

The bodies of 84 Iranian sailors killed in a torpedo attack by a US submarine last week in the Indian Ocean are due to be flown home on Friday, Sri Lanka's defence ministry has said.

 The Iranian warship Iris Dena was sunk on March 4 approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Sri Lanka's southern coast, killing 130 people, including the seamen. After being stored in two freezers at Galle National Hospital, the bodies were moved on Friday morning by a police escort to Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport for repatriation to Iran. The news agency AFP reports that 32 sailors rescued by Sri Lanka's navy following the torpedo attack "will remain in Sri Lanka."

A magistrate in the Sri Lankan city of Galle ordered that the 84 bodies should be released to the Iranian embassy.

 Shortly after the Iranian warship was sunk, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared that it had suffered a "quiet death." The US "perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran's shores," according to Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and "the US will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set." After the incident, a ship was struck, causing the stern to rise before exploding, according to video that was made public by the US Department of Defense.

The Iranian warship's final journey before it was sunk by the US (Image: BBC)

When it was attacked, the Iris Dena was returning from an Indian military exercise. Its sinking in international waters came during the current US-Israeli war with Iran and marked a dramatic widening of the conflict.

 Iran has since launched retaliatory strikes across the Middle East - targeting Gulf countries allied with the US.

Source: BBC