India, March 14 -- A chartered plane arranged by Iran took off from Kochi for Armenia late on Friday carrying most of the crew of the Iranian warship IRIS Lavan that docked at the Kerala port last week through a special chartered flight, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

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 people said on condition of anonymity. The Lavan's crew and the bodies of sailors from the Dena will be transported to Iran by road, these people said.

The Iranian side is repatriating the non-essential members of the 183-strong crew of IRIS Lavan, while a limited number of crew m...