Iran Sends Chartered Plane To Repatriate Crew Of Warship IRIS Lavan Docked In Kochi

Last Updated:March 14, 2026, 09:01 IST

On March 1, India granted permission to three Iranian warships that were in regional waters - IRIS Dena, IRIS Lavan, IRIS Booshehr - to dock at country’s ports.

Hours after Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi and India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held the fourth round of talks over the West Asia crisis, a chartered aircraft arranged by Iran departed from Kochi late on Friday carrying most of the crew of the Iranian warship IRIS Lavan, which had docked at the Kerala port last week, according to a Hindustan Times report.

Officials familiar with the matter said the flight was also transporting the bodies of Iranian sailors who were killed when the warship IRIS Dena was torpedoed and sunk by a US submarine near Sri Lanka on March 4.

Bodies collected from Sri Lanka

The chartered flight, believed to have originated from Turkey, travelled to Colombo to collect the bodies of sailors killed in the sinking of IRIS Dena. Reports in Sri Lankan media said 45 bodies of crew members were transported from Galle National Hospital to Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport for the airlift.

Sri Lankan authorities recovered the bodies of 84 Iranian sailors after IRIS Dena was sunk. They also rescued 32 crew members who had been kept at a naval facility.

Crew to be taken to Iran

Sources familiar with the matter said the crew of IRIS Lavan and the bodies of sailors from IRIS Dena will be transported to Iran by road after reaching Armenia. Iran is repatriating the non-essential members of the 183-strong crew of IRIS Lavan, while a limited number of crew members will remain behind to maintain the warship.

Talks between India and Iran

The development came after external affairs minister S Jaishankar held the fourth round of talks with Iranian foreign minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi.

Jaishankar said the Indian government’s decision to allow IRIS Lavan to dock at Kochi was “the right thing to do" and was taken on humanitarian grounds.

Iranian warships in regional waters

IRIS Dena had participated in an International Fleet Review and a multi-nation exercise hosted by the Indian Navy last month.

On March 1, India granted permission to three Iranian warships that were in regional waters – IRIS Dena, IRIS Lavan and IRIS Booshehr – to dock at the country’s ports in response to a request from Tehran. However, only IRIS Lavan docked at Kochi on March 4 and its 183-member crew was accommodated at naval facilities.

IRIS Booshehr docked in Colombo and its 204-member crew was sent to a Sri Lankan naval facility, while IRIS Dena was sunk by a US submarine in international waters off Sri Lanka’s southern coast.

Iranian sailors in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan authorities and officials of the Iranian embassy in Colombo are engaged in discussions regarding the next steps for the Iranian sailors currently in Sri Lanka’s care.

The Sri Lankan government has decided to grant one-month free visas to the Iranian sailors and to provide them necessary facilities on humanitarian grounds.

News world Iran Sends Chartered Plane To Repatriate Crew Of Warship IRIS Lavan Docked In Kochi

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