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Boat carrying Myanmar aid sinks; toll climbs beyond
28,000
Yangon, Myanmar—A Red Cross boat carrying rice and
drinking water for cyclone victims sank Sunday, while the death toll
jumped to more than 28,000 and aid groups warned of a humanitarian
catastrophe.
The boat was carrying supplies for more than 1,000 people and was
the first Red Cross shipment to the disaster area, the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said. All four
relief workers on board were safe, it said.
“This is a great loss for the Myanmar Red Cross and for the people
who need aid so urgently,” said Aung Kyaw Htut, the distribution
team leader of the Myanmar Red Cross.
The sinking was the latest setback for distribution of aid following
Cyclone Nargis. Though international aid has started to trickle in,
almost all foreign relief workers have been barred entry into the
isolated nation. The junta says it wants to hand out all donated
supplies on its own.
The boat was making the 12-hour journey from Yangon to
Mawlamyinegyun when it hit a submerged tree trunk and began taking
water near Bogalay town, which was extensively damaged by the
cyclone, the IFRC said.
The boat was carrying 100 bags of rice, 1,300 gallons of drinking
water, 10,000 water purification tablets, 30 boxes of clothes and
other goods. The organization said it was unable to say how much of
the cargo has been lost. But it said the food supplies saved were
contaminated by river water.
The International Federation’s disaster manager in Yangon, Michael
Annear, described the sinking as “a big blow.”
“Apart from the delay in getting aid to people we may now have to
re-evaluate how we transport that aid,” he said.
Also Sunday, Myanmar’s state television said that the cyclone’s
death toll has gone up by about 5,000 to 28,458. The number of
missing was reduced to 33,416. International aid groups, however,
say that the death toll could eventually top 100,000 as humanitarian
conditions worsen.
British aid group Oxfam said Sunday that the death toll could
multiply by up to 15 times, or rise to 1.5 million, if people do not
get clean water and sanitation soon, which could result in a medical
catastrophe.
“It’s really crucial that people get access to clean water sources
and sanitation to avoid unnecessary deaths and suffering,” Oxfam
regional chief Sarah Ireland told reporters in Bangkok, Thailand.
The government has refused to let in most foreign experts who have
experience in handling humanitarian disasters. It insists it is
capable of distributing the aid being pledged by international
donors. Meanwhile, aid is piling up in foreign countries, awaiting
approval from the junta.
The country’s main airport in Yangon is also incapable of handling
more than five flights a day, when it should be taking in at least
one every hour, said PLAN, a London-based children’s aid group.
“Logistically, the situation looks bleak,” it said in a statement.
“In short, they have one congested airport, ill equipped to deal
with the influx of cargo, no port, restricted fuel and no trucks.”
The IFRC said its head of delegation travelled to the town of
Bogalay in the worst-affected areas on Sunday, accompanied by
Myanmar Red Cross managers in an assessment mission. The visit had
been approved by Myanmar’s ministry of health. It was the first time
a senior international aid worker went to the region, the
organization said.
Aid group World Vision said it has requested visas for 20 people and
received approval for two, while the U.N. World Food Program had one
approved out of the 16 it requested. Still, the U.N. was making some
progress in aid delivery.
The junta released 38 tons of high-energy biscuits to the WFP that
were confiscated on Friday.
“We’re delighted and very encouraged by what is a very positive
sign,” said WFP spokesman Marcus Prior.
He said a Thai Airways flight ferried 4.4 tons of high-energy
biscuits for the WFP on Sunday, and a second flight from Italy would
bring 30 tons of supplies and equipment later.
But World Vision, which has a big presence in Myanmar, said relief
material delivered so far is a drop in the ocean.
“It is very obvious that of the thousands of people who have been
helped there are tens of thousands who have not been reached,” World
Vision’s Samson Jeyakumar said in Bangkok. He said its supplies were
running out in Yangon.
Many survivors have been without help for more than a week after
fleeing their inundated villages to take shelter in monasteries and
schools in towns. The canals and flooded roads to higher ground were
littered with the bloated bodies of humans and animals. The stench
of death was everywhere.
At relief camps, long lines of people waited to collect rations of
rice and oil. Where there were no camps, people clustered on
roadsides hoping for handouts. —AP
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