A chartered plane arranged by Iran took off from Kochi for Armenia, carrying most of the crew of the Iranian warship IRIS Lavan that docked at the Kerala port last week.
The flight is also carrying the bodies of Iranian sailors who were killed when another warship, IRIS Dena, was torpedoed and sunk by a US submarine near Sri Lanka on March 4.
The Iranian side is repatriating the non-essential members of the 183-strong crew of IRIS Lavan, while a limited number of crew members will stay back to maintain the warship.
India granted permission to three Iranian warships to dock at the country's ports in response to a request from Tehran, with IRIS Lavan docking at Kochi on March 4 and its crew accommodated at naval facilities.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar said the Indian government's decision to allow IRIS Lavan to dock at Kochi was 'the right thing to do', made on humanitarian grounds.
