Red Cross Aid Boat Sinks in Burma

Crew survives, but precious supplies are lost as clock ticks
By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 11, 2008 12:00 PM CDT
Red Cross Aid Boat Sinks in Burma
Sick villagers receive treatment from a local NGO at the Paw Taw Mu pagoda at the outskirts of hard-hit Bogalay town, southern Myanmar on Sunday May 11, 2008.   (AP Photo)

A Red Cross aid boat delivering desperately needed supplies to the survivors of Cyclone Nargis hit a submerged tree and sank in Burma's Irrawaddy Delta today, reports CNN. All those on board survived, but the 500 bags of rice, 5,000 liters of drinking water, and other critical cargo were all lost.

Red Cross official Joe Lowry noted that this was "the first time we got a boat going with so much aid on it," and added, "The local Red Cross people are extremely saddened and distressed that they've lost this." Oxfam warns that continued delays in bringing aid like potable water to the region could affect 1.5 million people. (More Burma stories.)

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