SRI LANKA: Muslims help preserve bodies of the 84 Iranian sailors sunk by a US submarine
Cancer Society in Galle provided clothing, food, and other essentials to survivors of US attack on IRIS ‘Dena’
UCA News (09.03.2026) – The local Muslim community in Sri Lanka’s Galle city has stepped forward to help hospital authorities make arrangements for preserving the 84 dead bodies of Iranian sailors killed after their warship was sunk by a US submarine last week.
The Iranian frigate IRIS Dena was struck by a torpedo reportedly fired from a US submarine on March 4, just off the southern coast of the Indian Ocean island nation, falling under its international treaty obligations.
Hours after military rescuers brought in the 84 recovered bodies, authorities at the Karapitiya Hospital in Galle realized that the in-house mortuary did not have enough space to keep them.
“Therefore, we sought assistance from the government and local communities, too,” said a hospital official who refused to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The local Muslim community pooled 2.7 million rupees (US$8,640) to procure refrigerated storage units and ice-preservation containers and handed them over to the hospital.
Some 50 bodies are being preserved in ice and sawdust inside them, outside the mortuary, until further arrangements can be made, the official added.
A volunteer who identified himself by a single name, Kifni, said the local Muslim community also “stepped up to provide fruit for those who [survived and] are hospitalized, in view of the Ramadan fasting period.”
Of the 32 Iranian sailors rescued, 22 were discharged on March 8, while 10 are still undergoing treatment, media reports said, quoting a medical officer at the Galle hospital.
- H. Chandrasena, secretary of the Sri Lanka Cancer Society Galle Branch, said it supplied clothes, bed sheets, and basic sanitary facilities to the hospital.
“I went to the hospital to check on them [Iranian sailors], and was happy to see them wearing sarongs [traditional garment worn around the waist] and using the items we provided,” he told UCA News.
Besides the sarongs, the Society provided bed sheets, towels, bars of soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and also tea, sugar, biscuits, and bottles of drinking water.
The local Muslims who are fasting during the Ramadan season “extended significant support in the form of basic items,” such as clothing, footwear, and even meals, Chandrasena noted.
Saman Athukoralle, another office bearer at the Society’s Galle branch, said the locals, irrespective of their religion, came forward to extend whatever help they could to the Iranian sailors.
“It was heartening to see people come together to help the Iranians in their time of need,” he added.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath, who is visiting India, said in New Delhi at the weekend that Sri Lanka was caring for 32 sailors from the Iranian frigate under Colombo’s international treaty obligations.
Nearly 24 hours after the frigate was sunk, the IRIS Bushehr, another Iranian warship with 208 sailors on board, sought permission to enter the country’s territorial waters.
“We have taken all the steps according to international laws,” Herath said amid reports of pressure from the US to not repatriate the Iranians.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said at a press briefing late on March 5 that the vessel had appealed to anchor in a Sri Lankan port, and accordingly, permission had been granted on humanitarian grounds.
“We are a sovereign and independent state.… Therefore, the decisions we take are made with our people and our motherland as the highest priority. No matter what external outcries or pressures may exist, we do not panic or act recklessly,” the left-leaning president said.
The Iranian warship was reportedly sent to a port in Trincomalee, as Colombo is a commercial port.
India, meanwhile, said on March 7 that it had allowed a third Iranian warship, the IRIS Lavan, to dock in one of its ports on “humane” grounds after it too reported operational problems.
The three ships were part of a multi-national fleet review held by India before the war in the Middle East started last week.
Iranian diplomats in Colombo said they have requested that the remains of the 84 sailors be taken back to Iran.
Colombo was reportedly in talks with the International Committee of the Red Cross to deal with the survivors of the torpedoed ship.
International humanitarian law applied to the survivors from the Dena, a senior Sri Lankan official said, adding the wounded could be repatriated at Iran’s request.
Photo: Submarine, AI Generated by HRWF
