Petrol queue in Lanka kills auto driver

Colombo: A 53-year-old auto-rickshaw driver in Sri Lanka died of a heart attack on Thursday in Colombo’s suburb while waiting in a serpentine queue for fuel for the entire night near a petrol pump, becoming the latest victim, as the fuel crisis in the island nation worsened.

People have left their vehicles for over two nights near filling stations as mostly diesel supplies have dried while long queues remain for petrol supplies. The three-wheeler driver had been waiting in line for fuel since Wednesday night in the Colombo south suburb of Panadura and he succumbed to cardiac arrest inside his vehicle, authorities said.

The state fuel entity Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) said the final shipment of diesel under the existing ILC of USD 700 million for fuel arrived on Thursday. However, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the issues would be based on a priority for essential services.

Agitated over waiting for long hours at fuel lines, Sri Lankans have blocked roads in protest in many areas. Lack of fuel has crippled the public transport services by over 50 per cent, the National Transport Commission announced. The railways department said the services would be crippled soon as it was unable to pay for the engine oil needed to operate the power sets due to the ongoing dollar shortage. —PTI