Burma's military regime gave the go-ahead for the first major airlift of international aid into the country today, several days after a devastating cyclone.

At the same time, the regime dragged its feet on urgently requested visas by foreign agencies.

Burma's state media said Saturday's Cyclone Nargis killed at least 22,980 people and left 42,119 missing, but a top US diplomat said yesterday that more than 100,000 may have died.

Four aircraft loaded with critically needed food from the UN World Food Programme were set to land at Rangoon airport today for rapid delivery to the Irrawaddy delta, where last the cyclone wreaked the greatest damage, the agency said.

The flights included 45 metric tons of high-energy biscuits. "It is critical that we reach the hungry and homeless in Myanmar (Burma) with ready-to-eat food as soon as possible to help them survive this horrific disaster," the UN agency said in a news release from Washington.

As international relief began to trickle in, hungry people swarmed around the few open shops and fights broke out over food and water.

Minutes of a UN aid meeting, meanwhile, revealed that the military junta's visa restrictions were hampering international relief efforts.

Only a handful of UN aid workers had been let into the impoverished Southeast Asian country, which the government has kept isolated for five decades to maintain its iron-fisted control.