Sri Lanka Truck Driver Dies At Fuel Station
- 24-Jun-2022
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Colombo: In a grave tragedy, a 63-year-old truck driver has died in Sri Lanka after standing for five days in a queue at a fuel filling station in the country’s Western Province, report says. This was the 10th death reported due to prolonged waiting for fuel procurement in the debt-ridden island nation grappling with the worst economic crisis since its independence, according to a media report on Thursday. The man was found dead inside his vehicle after waiting in the queue at the filling station in Anguruwatota, police said.
The death toll in queues now stands at 10 and all the victims have been men aged between 43 and 84 years. Majority of the deaths reported in queues have been due to cardiac arrests, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported. A week ago, a 53-year-old man died while waiting in a queue for several hours at a fuel station in Panadura in Colombo. The man was reported to have died of a heart attack while waiting in the queue in his three-wheeler.
Sri Lanka, home to around 22 million, is currently facing its worst economic crisis in more than 70 years. The country’s economy is experiencing extreme fuel shortages, soaring food prices and a lack of medicines. The current shortages were made worse by the government’s inability to get the state-owned Bank of Ceylon to open Letters of Credit for fuel imports.
