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Cyclone toll 'to reach 50 000'
06/05/2008 19:31 - (SA)
Bangkok - Save the Children said on Tuesday that it expected the death toll from Myanmar's devastating cyclone to reach as high as 50 000, after the government said more than 22 000 people were dead and 41 000 missing.
The aid agency's Bangkok-based spokesman Dan Collinson said the rapidly escalating death toll would rise sharply again in the next few days as victims of Saturday's powerful cyclone were located.
"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," he told AFP.
"I wouldn't be surprised if it went as high as 50 000," he said.
Save the Children is one of the few relief agencies allowed to operate in the reclusive country. It said it has already begun distributing food and shelter materials to some 30 000 victims of the disaster.
Collinson said the organisation has 500 staff operating in all the affected regions of the country.
Save the Children's international staff are attempting to gain access to Myanmar, but by late Tuesday they were one of several agencies awaiting visa approval from the Myanmar authorities.
On Tuesday, state television dramatically raised the death toll from the 15 000 announced hours earlier.
"According to the information as of noon today, 21 793 people were killed and 40 695 were missing in Irrawaddy division, while 671 were killed, 670 were injured and 359 people were missing in Yangon division," it said.
Three other regions of Myanmar were also affected by the cyclone, but state media gave no report on the casualties in those areas.
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