Iranian crew members return home from Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, April 15 (Reuters) - ‌Over 200 ​Iranian ​crew members from two warships who were rescued by Sri Lanka have been sent back ‌to their homeland, a top official said ⁠on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka rescued 32 Iranian crew from the warship ‌IRIS Dena on March 4 ‌after it was hit by a torpedo from a U.S. submarine.

The ship was returning from a ​naval exercise organised by India, amid the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Sri Lanka also rescued 208 crew ⁠from a second vessel, IRIS Booshehr on March 5 that had also ​requested assistance from Colombo after it ran into engine trouble.

"The crew of both ships ​were flown out about 11 ‌p.m. on a special flight on Tuesday night," Deputy Defence Minister Aruna Jayasekera told ⁠Reuters.

After its crew was offloaded in Colombo, IRIS Booshehr was towed to waters off Sri Lanka's eastern coast of ⁠Trincomalee eventually reaching on Tuesday morning.

"There are about 8-10 Iranian ​crew remaining aboard to assist operations," Jayasekera added.

Sri Lanka granted 30-day entry visas to the crew members and housed them ‌in navy and air force camps before arrangements were made for their return to ‌Iran.

A chartered plane arranged by Iran took back ⁠the bodies of 84 ‌crew members from ​the Dena who were killed in the U.S. attack.

(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe; Editing by Raju ‌Gopalakrishnan)

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