Myanmar death toll may rise very sharply - U.N.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The number of people killed in Myanmar by Cyclone Nargis may rise "very significantly" beyond the government's official estimate, the top U.N. humanitarian official said on Wednesday.

John Holmes, U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, gave no precise estimate of how much the death toll could rise. Myanmar's military government has said nearly 23,000 people died and 41,000 are missing because of the cyclone.

"We have no means of independently verifying those figures," he told reporters. "It would not surprise me if they continued to rise and maybe rise very significantly in the future."

Holmes said the United Nations would immediately release at least $10 million from its emergency relief fund for Myanmar and would launch a global appeal on Friday to raise more based on an initial U.N. damage assessment.

He said the amount of aid available for Myanmar was obviously not enough at the moment but it was clear that countries were ready to be very generous.

Although four Asian U.N. aid workers who do not need visas to get into the country were going in on Thursday but Holmes said other U.N. aid workers still were waiting to get visas.

"It's not been as good as we would have liked," he said about cooperation with Myanmar's junta. "It's not been as good as it is in other circumstances in other countries but we are getting cooperation."

Holmes warned the junta that "any delays are potentially critical."

The U.N. World Food Program said in statement that it has sent four aircraft loaded with food aid and other relief items to Myanmar. They are expected to arrive on Thursday.