Powerless: Sri Lanka plunges into darkness amid fuel crisis
The country is facing over 10-hour-long power cuts, forcing children to study using homemade kerosene oil lamps, fishermen to limit fishing and shops and industries to limit production and business
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Sri Lanka has been plunged into darkness owing to daily power cuts, unable to keep its oil-powered turbines going because of a fuel shortage and a lack of foreign currency to pay for oil imports. AFP
The country has no power for almost 10 hours a day, forcing children to study under homemade kerosene oil lamps, fishermen to limit fishing and shops and industries to limit production and business. AFP
The electricity rationing also hit mobile phone base stations and affected the quality of calls, operators said, adding that their stand-by generators were also without diesel. AFP
Several state-run hospitals have stopped surgeries as they have run out of essential life-saving medicines, while most have stopped diagnostic tests which require imported chemicals that are in short supply. AFP
The shortages have sparked outrage across Sri Lanka, with local television reporting protests across the country as hundreds of motorists block main roads in several towns. AFP
A train and vehicles roll in the dark during a power cut in Kelaniya, on the outskirts of Colombo. AP
A Sri Lankan coir mill worker takes a nap at an idle production line during a power cut in Hendala. AP