The Sri Lankan Navy said 204 of the 208 Iranian personnel aboard the warship IRINS Bushehr were safely brought to the port of Colombo on Friday, two days after another Iranian frigate was reportedly sunk near Sri Lanka.
Four sailors remained aboard the Bushehr after the ship developed trouble with one of its engines. The navy said the vessel, currently off Colombo, will need at least two more days to reach the eastern port of Trincomalee.
Navy spokesman Commander Buddika Sampath said the transferred personnel will be taken to the naval camp at Welisara, north of Colombo, where they will undergo medical examinations as part of formal registration.
In a televised address on Thursday, President Ranil Dissanayake said the Bushehr had asked to enter Sri Lankan waters citing engine failure. He emphasized that Sri Lanka intended to remain neutral while providing a humanitarian response, limiting the government’s role to responding to a request from a party involved in the conflict.
“No one deserves to die. Every life is precious,” Dissanayake said, and he criticized opposition parties for attempting to politicize the matter. “We won’t succumb to pressure. We will maintain our neutrality.”
Dissanayake gave a breakdown of the ship’s complement as 208 people: 53 officers, 84 cadets, 48 senior sailors and 23 seamen. He said Iran had sought permission on February 26 for a four-day visit to Colombo from March 9 to 13, which Sri Lanka was still considering. On February 27 authorities were informed that a sailor had tripped and needed assistance to go ashore.
Dissanayake also said that after the attack on IRIS Dena—the first Iranian ship reported torpedoed by the US—the second Iranian vessel requested to dock on March 4 and 5. Reported with agencies.
