In Sri Lanka, as economic crisis worsens, two men die waiting in queue for fuel

Colombo: Sri Lankan police said on Sunday two men collapsed and died while waiting in separate queues to secure fuel amid sky-rocketing prices leading to record inflation. The men, in their seventies, died while they were waiting for petrol and kerosene oil in two different parts of the country, said police spokesman Nalin Thalduwa in commercial capital Colombo.

For weeks people have been queuing up at pumps, often for hours, and the country has been under rolling power cuts. 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.