Colombo: At least two people have died in Sri Lanka while waiting in long queues for fuel, officials say, as widespread shortages and sky-rocketing prices cause misery and hardship across the island nation.
The men, in their seventies, died while they were waiting for petrol and kerosene in two different parts of the country, police spokesman Nalin Thalduwa said in Colombo. For weeks, Sri Lankans have been queueing up at pumps, often for hours as the country battles the worst economic crisis in its history as an independent nation, with a lack of foreign exchange to buy vital imports shrinking the supply of essential goods.
Motorists are forced to wait for hours outside filling stations for petrol and the government has imposed rolling blackouts as power utilities are unable to pay for enough foreign oil to meet demand.
Local media reports said multiple women standing in the hot sun to buy cooking gas had fainted at several locations across the island over the weekend. On Sunday, Sri Lanka suspended operations at its only fuel refinery after crude oil stocks ran out, said Ashoka Ranwala, the president of the Petroleum General Employees’ Union.
The use of kerosene has increased after low-income families began shifting away from cooking gas due to price increases. On Sunday, Laugfs Gas, the country’s second-largest supplier raised prices by 1,359 Sri Lankan rupees ($4.94) for a 12.5kg cylinder, the company said in a statement.
School exams cancelled
Meanwhile, exams for millions of school students in the Western Province of the country ran out of printing paper with Colombo short on dollars to finance imports, according to officials. Education authorities said the term tests were postponed indefinitely due to an acute paper shortage as Sri Lanka contends with its worst financial crisis since independence in 1948.
IMF bailout
The country announced that that it will seek an IMF bailout to resolve its worsening foreign debt crisis and shore up external reserves. The island nation secured a $1bn credit line from India to buy urgently needed food and medicine, officials said, after Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa’s visit to New Delhi.
