Two men in Sri Lanka died on Sunday in separate incidents while waiting for their turn in queues to receive fuel as the South Asian country is battling against soaring prices of commodities and financial challenges.
The men were believed to be in their seventies and died while waiting for petrol and kerosene in Sri Lanka's two different parts, according to local officials.
In two of the deceased men, one was a three-wheeler driver who had diabetes and heart issues and the second was a 72-year-old man.
Another man dies while waiting in a fuel queue. 2 deaths so far.
— Jamila Husain (@Jamz5251) March 20, 2022
Police said a 70 year old three wheel driver died after he collapsed while standing in a fuel queue in Kadawatha today. #SriLanka #EconomicCrisisLK
Foreign Currency Reserves
Sri Lanka is marred by financial challenges and citizens here have been queueing up at pumps for hours due to power cuts.
The country's only fuel refinery ran out of crude oil stocks on Sunday as it is facing issues in getting foreign currency.
Another man dies while standing line.
— Varnasuthan (@varnasuthan1104) March 20, 2022
NewsFirst reports that a 70-year-old man has died after collapsing while waiting in line at a filling station in Kadawatha. #SriLanka #lka
Sri Lanka Battles Inflation
Due to the rising inflation, people in Sri Lanka are avoiding the use of cooking gas as prices have surged and started using kerosene oil.
Sri Lanka is on fire 🔥 protests, gas lines and fuel lines, dollar crisis ,food shortages and the rising cost of living. The list keeps growing….
— Kishani Alanki Perera (@KishaniAlanki) March 15, 2022
A 12.5 kg cylinder gas price has surged to $4.94 on Sunday. Since January, Colombo is facing issues with finding dollars to pay fuel shipments as its foreign currency reserves shrunk to $2.31 billion in February.
Inflation in Sri Lanka crossed the 15% mark with its food inflation nearing 25% as on Saturday milk powder prices surged by $0.90 for a 400g. It has forced the sellers to raise the price of a cup of tea by 100 Sri Lankan rupees.
