Burma's storm toll 'nears 4,000'
The death toll from a devastating cyclone that hit western Burma on Saturday has now climbed to almost 4,000 people, state media say.
More than 3,900 people were killed in the city of Rangoon and the Irrawaddy region alone, state television said.
Thousands more are feared dead and several hundred thousand people are now in need of shelter and drinking water, according to the United Nations.
Five regions have been declared disaster zones in the storm's wake.
If the toll is confirmed, Tropical Cyclone Nargis would be the world's deadliest storm since a 1999 cyclone in India, which killed up to 10,000 people.
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In addition to those known to have been killed in Rangoon and Irrawaddy, tens of thousands more people may have died in the towns of Bogalay and Laputta, in Irrawaddy, according to the report on state TV.
A further 2,879 people were missing and 41 injured, it added.
The known death toll has increased more than 10-fold since earlier on Monday, when state media put it at a minimum of 351.
None of the figures have been independently confirmed.
Houses 'skeletal'
The BBC is not permitted to report from Burma, also known as Myanmar.
But reports from the storm-hit region say thousands of buildings have been flattened, power lines downed, trees uprooted, roads blocked and water supplies disrupted.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/7384041.stm
