Fleeing Lanka Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa stopped at airport

Colombo: Embattled Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is considering using a naval vessel to flee the island nation, sources said on Tuesday citing official sources. Rajapaksa, 73, had promised to resign and assured a "peaceful transition of power" following widespread protests over the country's worst economic crisis in living memory.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled his official residence in Colombo after tens of thousands stormed the colonial-era building, overran armed troops and made themselves at home. Visuals of protesters swimming in the pool, rummaging through the kitchen and playing in the bedrooms went viral, as did reports of the same protesters cleaning their own mess.

The President had planned to escape to Dubai, the sources said, but that plan is on hold after immigration officers refused to go to the VIP suite to stamp his passport. Rajapaksa insisted he would not go through public facilities, fearing retaliation from other airport users.

As protests grow fiercer and the Sri Lankan people's anger becomes more pronounced, Gotabaya Rajapaksa's closest military aides are discussing the possibility of taking him and his entourage aboard a naval patrol craft, the sources said, citing a top defence source.

He could go to the Maldives or India and get a flight to Dubai, the source added. An alternate plan could see the President charter a plane from the airport at Mattala - which was opened in 2013 and named after his elder brother Mahinda.