Siddique Islam - AHN South Asia Correspondent
Rangoon, Burma (AHN) - A Red Cross boat carrying aid materials for Burmese cyclone victims sank in a disaster zone on Sunday after hitting a submerged tree trunk, the organization said.
"The crew steered to an island but the boat sank rapidly. All crew members, including four Myanmar Red Cross relief workers on board... managed to get to safety," the organization said in a press statement.
The boat, which was hired locally, was carrying 100 bags of rice, 5,000 liters of drinking water, 10,000 water purification tablets, jerry cans, stretchers, clothes, household goods, soap, rubber gloves and surgical masks.
It sank near the country's devastated Irrawaddy Delta town of Bogalay, one of the regions worst-hit by Cyclone Nargis.
"This is a great loss for the Myanmar Red Cross and for the people who need aid so urgently," Aung Kyaw Htut, the distribution team leader of the Myanmar Red Cross told the Associated Press (AP).
The sinking was a major blow for the recovery effort in the aftermath of the May 3 cyclone which has left some 60,000 dead or missing, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.
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