US begins aid flights to Myanmar cyclone victims

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Children many of them orphans are suffering from fever, diarrhea and respiratory infections, it said. Many survivors complained of getting rotting rice while soldiers kept the best food for themselves.

Two planes carrying 56 tons of medical and other aid from Europe-based humanitarian groups also arrived in Yangon on Monday. Three more planes were en route, said Medecins Sans Frontieres, decrying the "growing restrictions" by the military on the movement of aid within the country.

Myanmar's government has less than 40 helicopters, most old and in disrepair, and some 15 transport planes, primarily small jets unable to carry hundreds of tons of supplies.

"The authorities of the country need to open up to an international relief effort," said Richard Horsey, a spokesman for U.N. humanitarian operations, in Bangkok, Thailand.

"There aren't enough boats, trucks, helicopters in the country to run the relief effort of the scale we need. It's urgent that the authorities open themselves up."

Adm. Timothy J. Keating, the commander of the U.S. military in the Pacific, was on board Monday's relief flight to try to negotiate with the junta for a larger U.S. role.

Some 11,000 U.S. service members and four ships are in the region for an annual military exercise and could be used to help the aid mission, U.S. Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Douglas Powell said.

In addition, three U.S. Navy ships in the Bay of Bengal were sailing closer to Myanmar, ready to aid cyclone victims if they are given permission, Vice Adm. Doug Crowder told reporters in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Calls mounted, meanwhile, for airdropping aid into the country, with or without the junta's approval.

"The sands of time are running out," said Britain's opposition Conservative Party leader David Cameron, suggesting aid should be airdropped into Myanmar if the junta does not provide access soon.

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