Sri Lanka denounces war deaths, houses Iran sailors

COLOMBO, Mar 6: Sri Lanka on Friday denounced the toll of the Mideast fighting, as the nation opened its arms to over 200 Iranian sailors who sought help after a deadly torpedo strike on another of Iran's ships.

The crew were brought ashore Thursday and were being accommodated at a military camp near the capital Colombo and their ship, IRIS Bushehr, was under Sri Lankan control.

The vessel reported engine trouble and sought port entry after another Iranian vessel, IRIS Dena, was hit by a US torpedo off Sri Lanka's southern coast on Wednesday. Washington later announced it carried out the attack, which killed at least 84 Iranian sailors aboard and left 64 more missing.

"Our approach is that every life is as precious as our own," Sri Lanka's President Anura Kumara Dissanayake wrote on X, and urged peace after the Israeli-US campaign led to Iranian retaliatory strikes.    �"AFP