THE death toll in cyclone-ravaged Burma could hit 500,000 – more than TWICE the total killed by the Boxing Day Tsunami.

Last night’s warning came as it emerged that 17 Britons, including ex-pats and backpackers, were still missing.

Sources said 200,000 people were already dead or dying.

But the figure could rise to HALF A MILLION through disease and hunger if the nation’s hardline army rulers continue to block aid for the devastated lowlands of the Irrawaddy Delta.

(Article continues below)

That would dwarf the 230,000 deaths across South East Asia in the 2004 catastrophe.

Nyo Ohn Myint, of exiled opposition party The National League for Democracy, told The Sun at a border crisis centre: “Much of this will be a man-made disaster, caused by the military regime.

“The bodies need to be collected and burnt as soon as possible or disease will claim many more lives. But the government has organised nothing and its 400,000 soldiers are doing nothing while undistributed aid piles up.

Full article here.