UN warns second cyclone set to strike Burma

THE United Nations said today another cyclone was forming near Burma, less than two weeks after it was devastated by a killer storm.

Amanda Pitt, spokeswoman for the UN humanitarian relief programme, could not say where the landfall would be or when it would become a full-fledged cyclone.

She said the information about the possible cyclone came from the Joint Typhoon Warning centre, which is part of the UN's World Meteorological Centre.

The May 2-3 cyclone that pulverised Burma's Irrawaddy delta left more than 60,000 people dead or missing.

The news came hours after the first international aid official allowed into the area by Burma's military leaders described towns rendered unrecognisable, survivors exposed to pouring rain and local "humanitarian" heroes saving lives.

Soldiers have barred foreign aid workers from reaching cyclone survivors in the areas hardest hit by Cyclone Nargis, but gave access to an International Red Cross representative who returned to Rangoon yesterday.

The ruling junta has been blasted by aid agencies for not responding adequately to what they say is a spiralling crisis.