Sri Lankan president flees the country amid economic crisis

People queue up to visit President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office (Eranga Jayawardena/AP)

The president of Sri Lanka has fled the country, days after protesters stormed his home and office and the official residence of his prime minister amid a three-month economic crisis.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards left aboard a Sri Lankan Air Force plane bound for for the city of Male, the capital of the Maldives, according to an immigration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.