Sri Lanka denounces war deaths, houses Iran sailors

The crew were brought ashore Thursday and were being accommodated at a military camp near the capital Colombo and their ship, IRIS Bushehr, was under Sri Lankan control.

The vessel reported engine trouble and sought port entry after another Iranian vessel, IRIS Dena, was hit by a US torpedo off Sri Lanka's southern coast on Wednesday.

Washington later announced it carried out the attack, which killed at least 84 Iranian sailors aboard and left 64 more missing.

"Our approach is that every life is as precious as our own," Sri Lanka's President Anura Kumara Dissanayake wrote on X, and urged peace after the Israeli-US campaign led to Iranian retaliatory strikes.

Thirty-two sailors were rescued by the Sri Lanka Navy and were being treated at a hospital in the southern port city of Galle.

Wednesday's attack was the first military strike far outside the Middle East since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran.

The US defence secretary on Wednesday said the strike was the first by an American submarine since World War II.

Sri Lanka not only granted permission for the second Iranian vessel, IRIS Bushehr, to enter its territorial waters on Thursday, but also evacuated its crew to a naval facility just outside Colombo.

"All our actions are aimed at saving lives and ensuring that humanity prevails," Dissanayake said.

In an address to the nation hours earlier, he said sheltering the sailors was the "most courageous and humanitarian course of action that a state can take".

"We jealously guard our non-aligned policy while ensuring that humanitarian values and the saving of lives remain our top priority."

Sri Lanka has remained neutral in the latest conflict. The United States is Sri Lanka's largest export market, while Iran is a key buyer of tea, the island's main export commodity.

A senior administration official said all but four sailors of 208-strong crew from IRIS Bushehr were taken in three Sri Lanka Navy craft and were being accommodated at a military camp near the capital.

"Our military is now in full control of the ship, which will be taken to Trincomalee," the official told AFP, referring to the port on the eastern side of the island, which is away from the main Colombo harbour.

The four Iranians remained aboard to assist Sri Lankan sailors, the official said.