Aid agencies warn that disease could spread if relief specialists are not allowed into the coutnry [EPA]

A military C-130 cargo plane packed with supplies left a Thai air force base on Monday and landed in Myanmar's biggest city Yangon. Two more air shipments are scheduled to land on Tuesday.
 
After the plane's arrival, the supplies were transferred to Myanmar army trucks. Allowing the US flight is a huge concession by Myanmar's military government, which sees Washington as its enemy.
 
The government also generally has refused to allow international relief experts, and has slowed delivery of aid by the UN with red tape.

Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Powell, the operation's spokesman,  said the plane was unarmed and carried aid supplies including mosquito nets, blankets and water. He said the aid was from the US government, not the military.

Suspicious generals

Myanmar's ruling generals have long been suspicious of foreign involvement in their country and are especially antagonistic towards the US, which has been one of the military's biggest critics.

Speaking as Monday's first US flight took off, Eric John, the US ambassador to Thailand, urged Myanmar's military to open up to international assistance and get much-needed supplies to survivors.

"Let them in. Let them save lives," he said, adding that the US aid was being given "without condition".
 
According to the Myanmar government the death toll from Cyclone Nargis has now reached almost 29,000 people dead and 33,000 missing.

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Foreign aid has been trickling into Yangon, Myanmar's former capital, in recent days.

In a setback for the aid effort, a Red Cross boat carrying aid has sunk in the hard-hit Irrawaddy delta region after striking a tree branch near the town of Bogolay.

The boat was carrying rice, drinking water and other goods for more than 1,000 people.

The Myanmar military has been sharply criticised for its handling of the disaster, from its failure to provide adequate warnings about the pending storm to responding slowly to offers of help.

'Catastrophe'

On Sunday David Milliband, the UK foreign minister, said Myanmar's military government had shown "malign neglect" for the people of their country.

With hundreds of thousands at risk of disease, he said "a natural disaster is turning into a humanitarian catastrophe of genuinely epic proportions."

Aid agencies have said that with the military government refusing to grant access to relief specialists, many hundreds of thousands of survivors would be at risk of disease.

The crisis in Myanmar was likely to figure high on the agenda of US-China talks taking place.

Myanmar has said international aid is welcome, but not aid workers [EPA]

John Negroponte, the US secretary of state, was expected to urge Chinese officials to put pressure on Myanmar's military to allow more access to foreign aid agencies.

China is Myanmar's biggest trade partner and its closest diplomatic ally.

The first US military aircraft due to arrive in Yangon on Monday is loaded with more than 12 tonnes of supplies, including mosquito nets, blankets and water.

The C-130 airlift from a Thai military base was given the green-light after four days of negotiations with the Myanmar government.

Lt. Col. Douglas Powell, a US Marines spokesman for the operation, said the United States had 11,000 servicemen and four ships in the region for an annual military exercise which could be diverted to help relief operations in Myanmar.

Commenting on the decision to allow US aid flights, Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman said he hoped it would mark "the beginning of a long line of assistance from the United States."

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