Colombo, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka on Friday began transferring more than 200 sailors from an Iranian ship ashore after the ship requested help while anchored outside the country’s waters, as tensions rose in the Indian Ocean after the sinking of an Iranian warship by a US submarine.
Sri Lanka Navy spokesperson Cmdr. Buddhika Sampat said that the sailors of IRIS Bushehr are being brought to Colombo port first and then the ship will be shifted to the eastern port of the island.
“The disembarkation is in progress,” he said, adding that the sailors will be taken to the naval base at Velisara, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Colombo, after medical examinations and immigration procedures.
The Sri Lankan government has taken the move to take possession of the Iranian warship IRIS Dena off the coast of Sri Lanka after the US sunk it on Wednesday. The strike is one of the rarest instances since World War II in which a submarine has sunk a surface warship and highlights the extent of the expanding US-Israeli military operation against Iran.
The warship IRIS Dena took part in a naval exercise organized by India and entered international waters en route to the country. At least 74 countries joined the events, according to India’s defense ministry, including the US Navy, which conducted reconnaissance flights and maritime patrol drills.
The Sri Lankan Navy rescued 32 sailors and recovered 87 bodies after the attack.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called it an “atrocity at sea” and expressed “deep regret” for the US attack.
Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said authorities decided to take control of the Iranian ship IRIS Bushehr after discussions with Iranian officials and the ship’s captain after one of its engines failed late Thursday.
“We have to understand that this is not a normal situation. This is a request by a ship belonging to one party to enter our port. We have to treat it according to international agreements and conventions,” he told journalists on Thursday night.
Separately on Friday, he wrote on X: “No civilian should die in wars. Our approach is that every life is as precious as our own.”
The IRIS Bushehr has been described in previous Iranian media reports as a naval logistics ship that also has a helicopter pad.
The episode underscores how the conflict involving Iran is expanding beyond the Middle East and spilling into the Indian Ocean, putting strategically-located Sri Lanka in a delicate position as it tries to balance humanitarian obligations, international maritime law and its long-standing policy of non-alignment.
Dissanayake said some crew members would remain on board to help the Sri Lankan navy navigate the ship to Trincomalee on the island’s northeast coast, about 265 kilometers (165 miles) from Colombo. The rest of the sailors will be kept at the naval base, he said, adding that Sri Lanka is guided by neutrality while trying to uphold humanitarian principles.
“We have followed a very clear stand. We are not partial to any state, we are not subservient to any state,” he said.
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Salik reports from New Delhi.
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