Burma's storm toll 'nears 4,000'

Many more are feared dead in outlying regions not yet reached by authorities or aid agencies, and survivors are lacking shelter and drinking water.

The junta that rules Burma has accepted offers of international help.

The UN is assessing the scale of the damage, and aid shipments are now being prepared by aid agencies and national governments.

In the past, the Burmese authorities have treated foreign aid with some suspicion.

If the toll is confirmed, Tropical Cyclone Nargis would be the world's deadliest storm since a 1999 cyclone in India, which killed up to 10,000 people.

In addition to those known to have been killed in Rangoon and Irrawaddy, tens of thousands more people may have died in the towns of Bogalay and Laputta, in Irrawaddy, according to the report on state TV.

A further 2,879 people were missing and 41 injured, it added.

The known death toll has increased more than 10-fold since earlier on Monday, when state media put it at a minimum of 351.

None of the figures have been independently confirmed.

Houses 'skeletal'

The BBC is not permitted to report from Burma, also known as Myanmar.

But reports from the storm-hit region say thousands of buildings have been flattened, power lines downed, trees uprooted, roads blocked and water supplies disrupted.