Crew of Iranian warship IRIS Lavan, docked in Kochi, repatriated in charter plane

IRIS Lavan docked in Kochi. (Image: X)

Iran repatriated most of the crew of the Iranian warship IRIS Lavan by a chartered plane which took off from Kochi, Kerala, for Armenia late on Friday night.

IRIS Lavan was docked at the Kerala port last week.

The charter flight is also carrying the bodies of Iranian sailor who were killed when another warship, IRIS Dena, was torpedoed and sunk by a US submarine near Sri Lanka on March 4, Reuters cited sources as saying.

From Armenia, Lavan’s crew and the bodies of sailors from the Dena will be transported to Iran by road.

The Iranian ship IRIS Lavan had developed urgent technical issues and was granted emergency docking approval on March 1 following a request from the Iranian side. It has been docked in Kochi since March 4 with its 183 crew members staying at Indian naval facilities in the coastal city.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar had said that the Indian government’s decision to allow IRIS Lavan to dock at Kochi was “the right thing to do”, and that the decision was made on humanitarian grounds.

Of the 183-member crew, sources said all the non-essential crew members of the ship have left for Iran, PTI reported.

A few sailors will continue to stay as the ship remains in Kochi, they said.

The planned departure of the majority of the crew members of IRIS Lavan comes at a time New Delhi is making efforts to ensure safe passage for over two dozen Indian-flagged merchant vessels currently stationed on either side of the Strait of Hormuz.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to his Iranian counterpart Seyed Abbas Araghchi last night in the fourth such conversation since the West Asia crisis erupted.