FIRST US AID PLANE LANDS IN BURMA !

Many survivors are desperate for aid in the Irrawaddy Delta

The first US aid flight to Burma following the devastating cyclone nine days ago has landed in Rangoon.

The US spent days negotiating with Burma's military government to gain permission for the aircraft to land.

The junta has admitted that parts of the worst-affected region remain cut-off, but the generals are still refusing entry to foreign aid workers.

The official death toll has risen to almost 30,000 but aid agencies fear 1.5m could die if help does not come. They say more than two-thirds of the cyclone victims are yet to be reached. The agencies estimate that 100,000 have already perished.

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Nine days after Cyclone Nargis struck Burma's low-lying Irrawaddy Delta region, survivors are beginning to gather in makeshift camps around the edges of the disaster zone.

The UN, which has launched a $187m (£96m) appeal for aid, says people urgently need food, water, shelter and medical aid. Many victims are said to be dehydrated or suffering from injuries that have not been treated. An Associated Press reporter, in the delta region, described how bodies continued to litter the land and the rivers.

"More than 50 bodies can be spotted in just three hours on the river. Many have turned white as they float entwined in mangrove trees, where they remain lodged," the AP report said.

A monk from the area said people had become used to living with the bodies. "The first few we saw, we were all very shocked. After a while, there were just too many." Fresh video footage has emerged that shows the extent of the suffering, including the corpses of children lined up in a makeshift morgue. But there are some signs that Burma's military leaders may be relaxing their stance on accepting foreign aid.

Firstly, the US plane was given permission to land. It was carrying 12,700kg of supplies including mosquito nets, blankets and water. And three aircraft from medical relief agency Medecins Sans Frontieres are due in the country later. A number of other flights arrived over the weekend and some supplies were trucked across the border.

But many foreign experts are still waiting for visas to enter the country and on Sunday, the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) said that the amount of aid getting to victims was "nowhere near the scale required". The US military says about 11,000 servicemen and four ships are in the region for an annual military exercise and could be harnessed to help.

But the junta is sticking to its line - foreign aid is acceptable, foreign aid workers are not. "Aid from any nations [is] accepted, and delivery of relief goods can be handled by local organisations," said minister for economic development, Soe Tha.

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But he admitted in the New Light of Myanmar newspaper that some areas were still cut off.

"Supplies were dropped in flooded areas where the helicopters could not land," he said.

UK Foreign Minister David Miliband said the military government's attitude was helping to create a "humanitarian catastrophe of genuinely epic proportions".

And the generals' tight control on the media has not relaxed.

The BBC's Asia bureau editor Paul Danahar was deported from Rangoon on the weekend after a week of reporting on the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. He had already boarded a flight to return to Bangkok when he was detained by Burmese security officials, who then formally deported him.

Meanwhile, aid agencies are warning of serious logistical hurdles getting supplies to affected areas. Roads and bridges have been washed away, and heavy rain is forecast for the coming week, further complicating relief efforts. On Sunday, a Red Cross boat carrying rice and drinking water for 1,000 people in Bogalay town hit a submerged tree and sank.

Michael Annear, the IFRC's disaster manager in Rangoon, described the sinking as "a big blow".

The European Union is to hold an emergency meeting on getting aid to Burma on Tuesday - while Asean (The Association of South-East Asian Nations) says it will discuss the issue next Monday.

BBC NEWS REPORT.