"Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country early on Wednesday, two sources told Reuters, hours before he was due to step down amid widespread protests over his handling of a devastating economic crisis.
Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards left aboard a Sri Lankan Air Force plane, an immigration official told Reuters.
A government source said he left for the city of Male, the capital of the Maldives. The president would most likely proceed to another Asian country from there, the source said.
The immigration official said authorities could not under law prevent a sitting president from leaving the country.
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