Save The Children Estimates Myanmar Death Toll Could Hit 50,000 - AFP

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Save the Children said Tuesday that it expected the death toll from Myanmar's devastating cyclone to reach as high as 50,000, after the government said more than 22,000 people were dead and 41,000 missing.

The aid agency's Bangkok-based spokesman Dan Collinson said the rapidly escalating death toll would rise sharply again in the next few days as victims of Saturday's powerful cyclone were located. "If at this stage, only four days in, the government are telling us the numbers are already reaching over 20,000 and there are 40,000 people missing, I think it could well go higher," he told AFP.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it went as high as 50,000," he said.

Save the Children is one of the few relief agencies allowed to operate in the reclusive country. It said it has already begun distributing food and shelter materials to some 30,000 victims of the disaster.

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