India repatriates non-essential Iranian crew of warship docked in Kochi amid Middle East conflict
PTC News Desk: Hours after Seyed Abbas Araghchi and S Jaishankar held their fourth round of discussions on 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. The non-essential sailors left India aboard a Turkish Airlines aircraft.
The plane had arrived in Kochi late the previous night after transporting the bodies of more than 80 Iranian sailors from Colombo. These sailors were from another Iranian warship that was reportedly sunk by a US submarine off the coast of Sri Lanka on March 4.
IRIS Lavan has been stationed in Kochi since March 4 after developing urgent technical issues. The vessel was granted emergency docking clearance on March 1 following a request from the Iranian side.
Sources indicate that the Iranian sailors from IRIS Lavan are expected to travel to Iran by road from Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.
The repatriation comes as New Delhi works to ensure safe passage for more than two dozen Indian-flagged merchant ships currently positioned on either side of the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Jaishankar held a phone conversation with Araghchi on Thursday night, marking the fourth such exchange between the two leaders since the West Asia crisis began.
- With inputs from agencies
