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Myanmar

Disaster strikes aid shipment in Myanmar - IFRC

By Joe Lowry, Information Delegate, Myanmar

The International Federation and Myanmar Red Cross aid effort to survivors of Cyclone Nargis suffered a blow early on Sunday 11 May when the first aid shipment travelling by river to the disaster area sank.

It is believed that the cargo ship carrying relief supplies for over 1,000 people hit a submerged tree trunk and started taking on water. The crew steered to an island but the boat sank rapidly. All crew members, including four Myanmar Red Cross relief workers on board - Tun Tun Win, Wu Shein, San San Win and Kyu Kyu Win, two men and two women - managed to get to safety.

"This is a great loss for the Myanmar Red Cross and for the people who need aid so urgently", said Dr Aung Kyaw Htut, head of training for the Myanmar Red Cross who is now acing as distribution team leader. "This would have been our very first river shipment and it will delay aid for a further day."

The boat, a double decker S-type named Sein Win Kyi was travelling from Yangon to Mawlamyinegyun, some 12 hours by boat when it sank near Myinka Gone village. It was carrying 100 bags of rice, 5,000 litres of drinking water, 10,000 water purification tablets, 200 jerry cans to carry water, ten stretchers, 30 boxes of clothes, 30 family kits containing 22 different household items each, 1,000 bars of soap, 800 rubber gloves and 1,000 surgical masks.

Most of the supplies had been procured locally by MRCS but the jerry cans arrived on one of the first Federation aid flights into the country on Friday.

Local people in this remote area, the crew and Red Cross staff have managed to save some relief items and these will be transported by foot, bicycle and any other means to the nearest town to await onward shipment. It is not known how much of the cargo has been lost, but the food supplies would have been contaminated by river water.

The boat sank early in the morning near Bogalay, a town extensively damaged by the cyclone. In the region some 260,000 people out of a total population of 350,000 are thought to have been affected. Almost 10,000 are reported dead or missing.

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."

Also Sunday, the International Federation's head of delegation Bridget Gardener travelled to Bogalay with Myanmar Red Cross senior management on an assessment mission approved by the Minister of Health. It is the first time a senior international aid figure has travelled to the affected region.

In Yangon, Myanmar Red Cross volunteers today started distributing 600 bags (five tonnes) of rice donated by the World Food Programme.