Sri Lankan president flees the country amid economic crisis

People arrives at the official residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa four days after it was stormed by anti-government protesters in Colombo (Rafiq Maqbool/AP)

The president of Sri Lanka has fled the country, slipping away in the middle of the night hours before he promised to step down under pressure from protesters angry over a devastating economic crisis that has triggered severe shortages of food and fuel.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his wife left aboard a Sri Lankan air force plane bound for the Maldives, the air force said in a statement.