Wrecked Myanmar leaves India aid pilot speechless

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Miles of trees stripped of their leaves, heaps of rubble, twisted electricity poles and swarms of hungry people -- the first sights to greet Indian pilot Prashant Karde as he flew in aid for storm-wrecked Myanmar this week.

The scale of human misery was beyond Karde's comprehension, even as an Indian air force pilot who has participated in many flood relief operations before.

"It was very, very sad to see people with almost no clothes battling it out to survive," said Karde, recollecting his sortie to Yangon over miles of swamps which once were bustling villages and paddy fields.

Wing Commander Karde is among the few Indian air force pilots engaged in flying aid to Myanmar, bringing tonnes of medicines, tents and sheets on his IL-76 cargo plane. But the devastation he witnessed left him emotionally drained.

"I had heard Yangon was a very pretty city with lots of trees and rows of houses, but what I saw from above was complete devastation and ruin," Karde told Reuters on Friday.

Rows of houses were completely razed several kilometers in and around Yangon, Myanmar's main city. Bodies and animal carcasses were floating in the water, Karde said.

The 39-year-old pilot took the freighter down for a closer look, only to see people with very little clothing waving at the aircraft.

"Everything from uprooted trees, wooden planks and clothes were strewn all over the place," he said. "Miles and miles were covered with water and it seemed a devastating flood had hit the country."

The toll from Cyclone Nargis, which hit Myanmar last week, was rising, with experts saying it could be as high as 100,000.

In spite of the huge devastation, Myanmar has refused foreign aid from many countries. On Friday, Myanmar's foreign ministry said it will accept foreign aid, but not foreign aid workers.

India was among the first few countries to dispatch aid at short notice. So far, two naval ships and three cargo planes have carried tonnes of relief materials.

"TOTAL DESTRUCTION"

This week, Myanmar's generals were waiting at Yangon airport when Karde landed after a four-hour flight from New Delhi.

The crew rested, but Karde went to the countryside in a jeep to see for himself what had hit Myanmar a few days earlier.

"People told me there was little food and no water. They were thanking me for coming to their aid, but I was speechless to find these men struggling, battling to survive," he said.

After returning to the airfield, which Karde says was damaged by the cyclone in some places, he immediately radioed New Delhi to report what he had seen.

"I told them about the total destruction, the loss of life was just too much. They needed more aid and I wanted to be back here."

A senior official said Karde's report had helped convince them to rush in more aid.

A few hours after he flew back to New Delhi, Karde received a second phone call, asking him to prepare for another sortie.

On Friday morning, he was at Palam air base in New Delhi, overseeing the loading of relief materials for a second sortie.

"I want to spend more time with the people there and share their loss," he said.

(Editing by Simon Denyer)