Athens: Greece received permission today from Myanmar to dispatch a military transport plane loaded with humanitarian aid for victims of cyclone Nargis, the Greek foreign ministry said.

The Southeast Asian country had signalled reluctance to let in foreign aid after last week s devastating cyclone, with death toll estimates nearing 100,000.

A Greek C-130 Hercules is expected to take off in the evening carrying tents, sheets and medicines donated by the Greek Red Cross and Greece-based non-governmental organisation World Pharmacists, the ministry said.

A second flight will likely follow on Saturday, it added.

In a separate statement, the Greek health ministry said the planned Saturday fight would be carrying more medicine and sheets and a team of Greek doctors.

Greece will also provide USD 200,000 in emergency financial aid to the government of Myanmar, Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said earlier this week.

The ministry today specified that this money would be made available through the United Nation World Food Programme.

Private citizens have been invited to make donations to a special ministry humanitarian aid account at the Bank of Greece.

Aid to Myanmar was only trickling in despite warnings that specialists were needed to deliver food and water through disaster zones strewn with rotting bodies, and it was unclear if the regime was giving visas to foreign aid staff.

Aid groups said the country needs hundreds of planes to cope with Cyclone Nargis, which barrelled into Myanmar overnight on Friday, unleashing one of the worst natural disasters in recent memory.

Source : PTI