C-130 Relief Flights Continue Into Burma

A total of eight Air Force C-130 transports operating of out Thailand had delivered nearly 100 tons of supplies to Burma as of May 14 to aid the survivors of Tropical Cyclone Nargis, according to US defense officials. The most recent flights came on that day as five C-130s landed at Yangon International Airport in Rangoon, loaded with water, blankets, rations, mosquito netting and plastic sheeting, the Pentagon said in a May 15 release. While Burmese officials have agreed to allow five more planeloads of relief supplies, the US has been limited to using C-130s and landing at Yangon. US military officials would like to set up a helicopter forward operating base outside of Burma and then be granted the right to ferry relief supplies aboard the helicopters directly into the areas hardest hit by the cyclone deep in the Irrawaddy River delta. The first C-130, operating from Utapao, Thailand, touched down at Yangon May 12.