U.S. pushing hard for copters to ferry Myanmar relief
U.S. pushing hard for copters to ferry Myanmar relief
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By The Associated Press
Published: May 16, 2008
YANGON, Myanmar — The door is open. But just a crack.
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How are they doing it?
Myanmar, whose ruling military generals are intensely sensitive to what they see as outside meddling, has limited the U.S. military to the Yangon airport, where emergency supplies must be unloaded by hand.
Once the planes are unloaded, they are quickly sent back to their makeshift base in Utapao, central Thailand.
The U.S. military has flown 13 C-130 cargo planes loaded with 156.6 tons of aid into Yangon over the past four days. Five flights flew on Thursday, military officials said, and another eight were expected to take off today.
The C-130s have brought in much-needed supplies including water, mosquito nets, blankets, plastic sheets and hygiene kits. But aid groups say the airport soon will have more supplies than it will be able to handle, meaning bottlenecks and delays.
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