Rotting corpses pile up as Myanmar stalls on aid

By - CNN
Thursday, May 08, 2008 - Web Link
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May 8, 2008

Myanmar's cyclone survivors have insufficient fuel to burn the rotting corpses of the dead as the country's military junta continues to block access for aid groups.

Relief agencies say decomposing corpses litter ditches and fields in the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta area as survivors try to conserve fuel for transporting much-needed supplies.

The international community is growing increasingly frustrated with the junta's lack of progress in granting visas for relief workers and giving clearance for aid flights to land.

They are concerned the lack of medical supplies and clean food and water threatens to increase the already staggering death toll.

Myanmar's military government says more than 22,000 people died when the killer cyclone battered the country's low-lying delta region over the weekend. The top U.S. diplomat in the country has said the toll could top 100,000.

A World Food Programme plane carrying high-energy biscuits landed in Myanmar on Thursday to provide a small dose of assistance amid a mushrooming humanitarian crisis.

Another plane has received permission to land, but the status of other flights remained uncertain even as a clearer picture emerged of the scope of death and desperation in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.

"We have gotten valuable cooperation. The first steps have been taken," WFP spokeswoman Bettina Luescher told CNN Thursday morning. "But it's taking too slow. It needs to go much quicker.

"We have lots of experience in situations like these. We know how to do this," Luescher said