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DESPERATE: Villagers waiting for relief supplies to arrive on Wednesday in Labutta, one of the worst-hit areas. -- PHOTO: AFP
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IN BANGKOK - MYANMAR'S government remained in no hurry to allow foreign aid teams into the country yesterday, even as estimates of the death toll from Cyclone Nargis soared past 100,000.
Aid trickled in, but relief agencies warned the toll could climb higher if the military rulers continued to drag their feet about allowing aid workers in.
About seven tonnes of high-energy biscuits were flown into Yangon yesterday by the World Food Programme, but it said the government was holding up three more flights.
The United Nations refugee agency said trucks carrying 22 tonnes of aid were stuck at the border in north-west Thailand.
The UN said one of its planes had landed in Myanmar as part of the first major international airlift, the Associated Press reported. Permission to send the planes came after a delay.
The cyclone devastated the country's low-lying Irrawaddy delta area last Saturday, leaving more than one million people homeless, according to the UN.
An estimated 80,000 people died in the delta's Labutta district alone, reported news agency Agence France-Presse, citing local military official Tin Win.
But the toll may climb to 100,000 as more bodies are found in the delta area, Ms Shari Villarosa, the United States charge d'affaires at the embassy in Yangon, said on Wednesday.
Asean said yesterday it was trying to persuade Myanmar, a member of the group, to open its borders. Asean expects to get permission and opening of borders for aid deliveries soon, said Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan.
Myanmar backtracked on allowing the United States to fly in relief, US Ambassador to Thailand Eric John said yesterday.
'It is still under consideration,' he said. 'As days go by, more lives are being lost.'
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