BANGKOK - A planned US aid flight to Myanmar is not going ahead, the US ambassador to Thailand said Thursday, saying it was not clear if there had been a mix-up or whether Myanmar authorities had withdrawn permission.

"I don't know whether they rescinded the decision or if there was a miscommunication," the ambassador, Eric John, told a press conference.

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The US embassy had said earlier Thursday that the ruling military had agreed to accept US emergency aid after last weekend's devastating cyclone, allowing at least one American plane to deliver supplies.

Cyclone Nargis pounded the country's low-lying south on Saturday, killing nearly 23,000 people, according to Myanmar's official count.

The United States has urged Myanmar's military rulers to accept international disaster relief after the top US diplomat in Yangon warned that more than 100,000 people may have died when the cyclone pounded the country.

"It should be a simple matter. It's not a matter of politics. It's a matter of a humanitarian crisis," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday.

John said some US supplies have already been sent to Myanmar through the United Nations. - AFP/ir

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