Sri Lanka court orders 84 Iranian sailors' bodies be handed to Iran embassy: Report

Sri ​Lankan local media on Wednesday reported that the court has ordered the bodies of 84 sailors who were killed in an attack on an Iranian warship off the nation's coast last week be handed ⁠over to the embassy of Iran.

⁠IRIS Dena, was hit by US torpedo while it ​was returning from a naval exercise organised by India. The attack was carried out amid the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Following a ⁠request from the Galle Harbour Police in the southern port city of Galle, the court issued order ​on Wednesday, reported Reuters citing local media.

The bodies are currently at the morgue in Galle's National Hospital.

Sri Lanka has also granted 30-day ⁠entry visas ‌to 208 crew members from a second Iranian vessel who were taken in by the South Asian country ‌after the vessel experienced engine problems in the same region, Deputy Defence Minister Aruna ⁠Jayasekera told Reuters.

The report added that, the Sri Lankan foreign ministry is in touch with the Iranian embassy in Colombo about ‌the crew and the mission is in turn consulting ‌Tehran, Jayasekara said.

"We are expecting a response from Tehran ‌over the next few days," he said.

Sri Lankan President ⁠Anura Kumara Dissanayake ⁠last week said IRIS Booshehr would be moved to the Trincomalee harbour on the east coast.

A ​third Iranian warship, the IRIS Lavan with 183 crew members, is docked in the ​southern Indian port of Kochi.