UAE rushes aid as Myanmar toll tops 22,000

Yangon: More than 22,000 people were killed in Myanmar's devastating cyclone and 41,000 are still missing four days after the storm slammed into the country's southern coast, the government said on Tuesday.

The toll update came as the UAE Red Crescent Authority rushed urgent relief aid to victims of Cyclone Nargis. The Red Cross Society of Myanmar was also involved in the delivery of the UAE aid, said Saleh Mohammad Al Mullah, RCA Deputy Secretary-General for relief projects.

In Myanmar, aid workers were racing to deliver food and water to the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta region, which was submerged by floodwaters, leaving scenes of utter devastation with homeless survivors running low on food and water.

Witnesses described horrific images of rice fields littered with corpses, and there were fears the death toll could rise much further. Save the Children, one of the few relief agencies allowed to operate in the secretive and impoverished country, said it expected the toll to climb as high as 50,000.

"If at this stage, only four days in, the government are telling us the numbers are already reaching over 20,000 and there are 40,000 people missing, I think it could well go higher," spokesman Dan Collinson said. "I wouldn't be surprised if it went as high as 50,000," he said.

US President George W. Bush urged Myanmar's military rulers to allow in international help, saying he was prepared to send navy ships to help the recovery.

Waiting for visas

But the junta insisted foreign aid experts would have to negotiate before being allowed to operate here, and many agencies said they were still waiting for visas to allow their staff into the country.

The disaster is the most devastating cyclone to hit Asia since 1991, when 143,000 people died in Bangladesh.