The bodies of 84 Iranian sailors killed when a United States submarine torpedoed an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean are set to be flown back to Iran, according to officials in Sri Lanka.
The sailors were among roughly 130 crew members aboard the Iranian naval vessel IRIS Dena when it was struck and sunk on March 4 about 40 kilometers off Sri Lanka’s southern coastline in the Indian Ocean.
Authorities said the remains were transferred under police escort to Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport on Friday morning for repatriation after being kept in two freezers at Galle National Hospital in the coastal city of Galle.
Sri Lankan officials also confirmed that 32 sailors who survived the attack after being rescued by the Sri Lanka Navy will remain in the country for the time being, according to AFP.
A magistrate in Galle authorized the release of the 84 bodies to the Iranian embassy, clearing the way for their return to Iran.
The attack occurred while the IRIS Dena was sailing back from a naval exercise hosted by India. The ship was operating in international waters when it was hit, an incident that has intensified tensions amid the ongoing conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran.
Following the sinking, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described the Iranian vessel as having met a “quiet death.”
Iran strongly condemned the attack. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Washington of committing “an atrocity at sea” far from Iranian waters and warned that the United States would “bitterly regret the precedent it has set.”
Video released by the United States Department of Defense after the incident showed the vessel being struck, with the stern rising before a powerful explosion engulfed the ship.
The sinking occurred roughly 40 kilometers from Sri Lanka’s southern coast near Galle, along a major maritime corridor linking the Arabian Sea with shipping lanes around the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Indian Ocean.
The attack has been viewed as a significant escalation in the expanding regional conflict. In the days since, Iran has launched retaliatory strikes across the Middle East, targeting several Gulf nations allied with the United States.
