Sri Lankan vegetable farmer Pathmasiri Kumara removes weeds in his potato field in Keppetipola, Sri Lanka on July 1, 2021. Sri Lanka has cut back on imports of farm chemicals, cars and even its staple spice turmeric as its foreign exchange reserves dwindle, hindering its ability to repay a mountain of debt as the South Asian island nation struggles to recover from the pandemic. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)





Sri Lankan daily waged laborers transport a cart load of imported garlic during restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus at a wholesale market place in Colombo, Sri Lanka on June 16, 2021. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)





Workers rest at a wholesale market closed to curb the spread of the coronavirus in Colombo, Sri Lanka on June 16, 2021. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)





A Sri Lankan man transports a load of imported onions and garlic in an autorickshaw as an elderly laborer pulls a load of goods at a wholesale market during travel restrictions imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus in Colombo, Sri Lanka on June 16, 2021. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)





A dead sea turtle is seen washed ashore on a beach weeks after the MV X-Press Pearl container ship caught fire and sank off the coast of Colombo, in Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka on June 24, 2021. (Photo by Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)





Relatives of a Covid-19 coronavirus victim, transport a coffin on an auto rickshaw to a mortuary in Colombo on August 16, 2021. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)





Sri Lankan students ride a motorbike back home after attending their online classes from a nearby mountain top in Bohitiyawa village in Meegahakiwula, Sri Lanka, July 2, 2021. Climbing rocks and sitting on tree tops is not part of their curriculum but children in villages surrounding the capital city are doing just that to be able to catch mobile signals to access their online classes. The digital divide fueled by uneven internet access and high data cost has forced many students out of the formal education system in Sri Lanka. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)





A Sri Lankan woman holds her smart phone for her daughter to take online classes from a signal reception point on a mountain in a reserve forest in Lunugala, Sri Lanka, July 3, 2021. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)





A Sri Lankan man climbs a rock in a forest reserve with a child to access the child's online classes in Bohitiyawa village in Meegahakiwula, Sri Lanka, July 2, 2021. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)





Sri Lankan students walk down from a nearby mountain after attending their online classes in Bohitiyawa village in Meegahakiwula, Sri Lanka, July 2, 2021. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)





A Sri Lankan man helps his son to put his bag on his back as they prepare to climb a mountain with others to access online lessons in a reserve forest in Lunugala, Sri Lanka, July 3, 2021. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)





Sri Lankan children sits on tree branches as they access their online lessons from a forest reserve in their village in Bibila, Sri Lanka, July 2, 2021. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)





Sri Lankan students walk down a mountain after attending their online lessons in a forest reserve in Bohitiyawa village in Meegahakiwula, Sri Lanka, July 2, 2021. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)





Death-row inmates of Sri Lanka's Welikada prison protest holding banners from the roof of the prison in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, June 25, 2021. About 150 death-row inmates in Sri Lanka began a hunger strike to demand their sentences be commuted, prison officials said, after the nation's president pardoned a former lawmaker who had been condemned for an election-related killing. Banners read “Treat all inmates equally”, “Grant bail on appeal applications”, “Minister! Stop bogus promises”, “Grant pardon to us like you did to terrorists and notorious politicians”. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)





Sri Lankan health workers carry the dead body of a person to test for COVID-19 before handing over them to families in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, August 11, 2021. The Indian Ocean island nation is facing its most severe spike of the pandemic, driven by the highly contagious delta variant. Doctors and medical associations now warn that ICU beds for virus patients and morgues are rapidly nearing maximum capacity. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)





A policeman stands guard along a street during a nationwide 10-day lockdown imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19 coronavirus in Colombo on August 21, 2021. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)





An elderly woman receives a dose of Sinopharm vaccine at her home from the Sri Lanka Army mobile vaccination unit against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, September 14, 2021. (Photo by Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)





Elephant owners Niraj Roshan Samarakkodi, in white shirt, and his wife Chamali pet their beasts, Kandula, right and Suddi at a compound in Pannipitiya, a suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, September 12, 2021. Environmentalists in Sri Lanka are challenging a court order issued earlier this month that would allow the return of 14 illegally captured wild elephants to people accused of buying them from traffickers. Rights groups and lawyers say the Sept. 6 court order is based on a government decree that violates Sri Lankan environmental laws. They fear the order could encourage a resurgence of trafficking of wild elephants, putting them at risk. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)





A tame elephant Suddi who was recently released from government custody following a court order, reclines in a water way to cool off in Pannipitiya, a suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, September 12, 2021. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)





Sri Lankan mahout Nishanth relaxes with a tame elephant Suddi, who was recently released from government custody following a court order, in Pannipitiya, a suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, September 12, 2021. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)