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Second cyclone aid plane approved to land


Published: May 8, 2008 at 11:07 AM
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YANGON, Myanmar, May 8 (UPI) -- A second planeload of critical aid got approval Thursday to land in cyclone-devastated Myanmar, but the status of other flights was in doubt, officials said.

The government's military junta refused to approve other landings through an apparent reluctance to let foreign relief experts into the nation also known as Burma.

The move came despite a worsening humanitarian crisis that has claimed upward of 100,000 lives and pleas by the U.N. secretary-general and other leaders, The Washington Post said. China also urged its close ally to open up to outside help,

The U.N. shipment allowed to land earlier Thursday came from Italy and included about 7 tons of high-energy biscuits, authorities said. But that was seen by a U.N. official as only enough to feed about 17,000 people for a day in a situation where more than 1 million people are in need of emergency help.

Several other planes were awaiting word from Myanmar leaders, including several U.S. C-130 aircraft from the USS Essex and six helicopters waiting on a Thailand base.

Horrible conditions persisted from the killer storm that hit over the weekend. Relief agencies told CNN that decomposing corpses litter ditches and fields in the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta area. Survivors were reported to have insufficient fuel to burn the rotting corpses.

In what markets still open, people scrambled for limited food supplies.There were also reports of price gouging in urban areas around Yangon.

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CYCLONE MYANMUR
NASA's Terra satellite captured these images of the Burma coast on April 15, 2008 (L), before Tropical Cyclone Nargis flooded the region on May 4, 2008 and after the aftermath of the cyclone (R) on May 5, 2008. The death toll from the cyclone and its aftermath is feared to hit or exceed 100,000 lives. (UPI Photo/NASA/MODIS Rapid Response Team)
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