COLOMBO, Sri Lanka—Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country on a military aircraft in the early hours of Wednesday morning, an immigration official said, the same day he was due to formally resign following mass protests over the country’s economic crisis that led to a storming and occupation of his residence in the country’s capital, Colombo.
The flight departed from the main international airport in Colombo and was headed for the Maldives, said the official. Mr. Rajapaksa traveled with his wife and two security personnel, the official said, in a dramatic departure that is set to deepen turmoil in the small, island nation. The official said there were no legal grounds to deny his immigration clearance.