Sri Lanka's embattled president flew out of his country to the Maldives early Wednesday, in a probable prelude to his resignation after months of widespread protests against his island nation's worst-ever economic crisis.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa had promised at the weekend to resign on Wednesday and clear the way for a "peaceful transition of power" after fleeing his official residence in Colombo just before tens of thousands of protesters overran it.
As president, Rajapaksa enjoys immunity from arrest, and he is believed to have wanted to go abroad before stepping down to avoid the possibility of being detained.
He, his wife and a bodyguard were among four passengers on board an Antonov-32 military aircraft which took off from Sri Lanka's main international airport, immigration sources told AFP.
On arrival in the Maldives they were driven to an undisclosed location under police escort, an airport official in Male said.
The departure of the 73-year-old leader once known as 'The Terminator' had been stymied for more than 24 hours in a humiliating stand-off with immigration personnel in Colombo.
He had wanted to fly to Dubai on a commercial flight, but staff at Bandaranaike International withdrew from VIP services and insisted that all passengers had to go through public counters.
The presidential party were reluctant to go through regular channels fearing public reactions, a security official said, and as a result, missed four flights on Monday that could have taken them to the United Arab Emirates.
France 24