A nine months' pregnant woman who was waiting in line for two days in Sri Lanka to get her passport in order to take a job overseas went into labor and delivered a baby girl on Thursday.
The woman was admitted to the hospital with labor pains. Footage allegedly showing her being taken away on a stretcher has been circulating on social media.
The island nation of about 22 million people is running short of food, cooking gas, fuel, and medicine, after economic mismanagement and the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out its foreign exchange reserves. Currency depreciation, more than 55 percent inflation, and worries of prolonged political and economic uncertainty are pushing many to emigrate.
With no signs of the crisis letting up and no bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as of now, many Sri Lankan refugees are traveling illegally by boat to nearby countries like India and Australia in a desperate bid to escape the unfolding disaster.
Sri Lanka Immigration and Emigration Department officials told Aljazeera that they have expanded working hours and tripled the number of passports being issued. But at least 3,000 people are submitting forms every day.
Most people have opted to obtain passports via a "one-day issue service", and stand in queues for days to have their photos and fingerprints taken.