By Uditha Jayasinghe
GALLE, Sri Lanka, March 6 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan authorities said on Friday they were escorting a second Iranian naval vessel to harbour and moving 208 of its crew to a camp, two days after a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship in the same area.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said his island nation had a "humanitarian responsibility" to take in the crew, as the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran raged, wreaking havoc on global markets and disrupting trade and travel.
The Sri Lankan Navy identified the second Iranian ship as naval auxiliary vessel IRIS Booshehr.
SECOND IRAN SHIP HAD ENGINE PROBLEMS
Iranian sailors were seen dragging suitcases and carrying bags as they disembarked in Sri Lanka, in pictures shared by the Presidential Media Division.
Other images showed Sri Lankan navy tug boats and naval vessels approaching the Booshehr, which Dissanayake earlier said would be moved to the Trincomalee harbour on the eastern coast.
"About 15 crewmen are still aboard the Iranian ship to help with navigation," a Sri Lankan government source said.
The ship was experiencing engine problems, that source and another government official said. Both asked not to be named given the sensitivity of the issue.
The crew was brought to the port in Sri Lanka's commercial capital Colombo where they had medical check-ups and were then moved in groups to a navy camp in Welisara, about 18 km (10 miles) away, the officials added.
The defence ministry declined to comment and the navy spokesman's office could not be reached.
IRAN THANKS SRI LANKA
The ship Booshehr, which had found itself stranded in Sri Lanka's exclusive economic zone outside its maritime boundary, reached the area a day after the Iranian warship IRIS Dena was sunk while returning from India after a naval exercise.
Dena was hit by a torpedo from a U.S. submarine in the Indian Ocean, about 19 nautical miles off Sri Lanka's coast, killing 87 people on board and dramatically widening the scope of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
Iran's foreign minister thanked Sri Lanka for helping rescue survivors from the warship.
"That vessel ... was ceremonial, unloaded, unarmed," Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters in New Delhi, where he is attending a conference.
Both Washington and Tehran are key trade partners for Sri Lanka. The United States accounts for about 40% of its apparel exports and Iran is one of its main tea buyers.
(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe, writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by YP Rajesh and Andrew Heavens)
