Sri Lanka has started to offload 208 crew members from a second Iranian vessel off its coast, a day after 87 people were killed and several others were still missing after a US submarine strike on an Iranian warship in the same region, Reuters reports.
“After detailed discussions with all parties, Sri Lanka has decided to assist the Iranian vessel,” Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told a press briefing in Colombo.
The crew being offloaded includes 53 officials, 84 cadets, 48 senior sailors and 23 sailors, according to Dissanayake. Some crew members will remain on board to help the Sri Lankan Navy navigate the vessel to Trincomalee Port in the eastern part of the island, he added.
He added that the ship was near the port of Colombo, in the country’s exclusive economic zone but outside its maritime boundary.
“We worked on the stance that this is our humanitarian responsibility,” he told the briefing.
