In Sri Lanka, which is suffering its worst economic crisis in seven decades, troops gave tokens to people in lines waiting to buy fuel on Monday. Colombo schools were closed, and public employees were asked to work from home.
The 22 million-person island is struggling to pay for imports of food, medicine, and most importantly, fuel since its foreign exchange reserves are at a record low. Autorickshaw driver W.D. Shelton, 67, one of those who received a token meant to retain his place in line until when fuel becomes available, said, ‘I have been in line for four days, I haven’t slept or eaten properly during this time.’
Shelton, who was 24th in line at a fuel station in the middle of Colombo, continued, ‘We can’t earn, we can’t feed our families.’ He intended to stay there because he didn’t have enough gas to travel the 5 kilometres (3 miles) to his home. How much fuel the government could use up was not immediately known.
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