U.S. Troops Land in Bangladesh to Aid Storm Victims

U.S. Marines and Army troops, promising to make contaminated water safe for drinking, arrived Sunday to join the international effort to save cyclone survivors from disease and starvation.

According to the latest government figures, the death toll is now 139,138 from the April 30 cyclone and tidal wave that inundated low-lying islands and coastal villages along the Bay of Bengal.

At least 4 million survivors face serious health problems and food shortages, the Red Cross has estimated, and Bangladeshi officials say the number could be as high as 8 million.

About 200 people have died of diarrhea alone, Information Secretary Manzur Moula told reporters Sunday night.

At least 64 U.S. Marines and Army Rangers landed at Dhaka airport Sunday, the vanguard of an American military task force. The first group consists mostly of engineers and communications experts who will lay the logistic groundwork for thousands of Marines.

The U.S. task force will include at least 4,600 Marines and several thousand sailors, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Kenneth Patterson, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Command in Honolulu.

Officials said that many will remain aboard the nine ships being sent to Bangladesh and that the size of the ground operation has yet to be determined.

The Marines were on their way home from the Persian Gulf War when President Bush diverted them to Bangladesh to join the relief effort.

The amphibious assault ship Tarawa is expected to reach Chittagong, the port that lay at the center of the cyclone, about Wednesday, members of the advance team said.

Half a dozen officers plan to visit Chittagong today to see whether the storm-shattered seaport can accommodate their fleet and to start figuring out how best to deploy their troops.

“We got equipment here to make pure water--out of salt water, out of contaminated water. We can take almost mud and make it drinkable,” said Marine Maj. Dave Sebastian.

Sebastian, a 39-year-old engineer from Orlando, Fla., said the Marines will probably set up several water-purification points close to food distribution centers established by foreign and local relief teams.

The advance team arrived on two military transport planes from Okinawa under the command of Marine Maj. Gen. Henry Stackpole, who spent the day conferring with Bangladeshi government leaders and U.S. Embassy staffers.

The second plane, an Air Force C-130, landed at midafternoon Sunday, piloted by Capt. Eric Huppert, who had spent last October in Bangladesh working with the air force of this impoverished nation.

Huppert, 32, from Albany, N.Y., and his crew are scheduled to return to Okinawa today. They may have to ferry more task force members whose plane was unable to leave Okinawa on Sunday because of a mechanical problem.

In the meantime, another flight from Okinawa was expected to reach Dhaka overnight, carrying about 30 more engineers and communications personnel.

Also on the flights were medics who will try to keep the task force from getting sick.

The area where the task force will be working is a nightmare of health hazards. The diarrhea ravaging flood survivors, especially babies and young children, can be fatal because it induces rapid dehydration.

“My main job is going to be to provide medical support (to the task force) and keep them healthy,” said Army Sgt. Paul Vecchio, 28, of Morris Plains, N.J.

The U.S. Embassy said C-5 cargo planes are expected to arrive in Dhaka today with five UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters and crews, air traffic control teams and members of the Seabees, the military construction brigades.

In addition to shipments from various U.N. agencies, countries as diverse as Turkey, Thailand, Japan and Norway have sent food, medicine, blankets, clothing and cash.

The total aid received or pledged so far has topped $217 million.