Over 400 in need of evacuation in besieged Syrian town: UN

PanARMENIAN.Net - Some 400 Syrians on the brink of death must be urgently evacuated from Madaya to receive medical treatment, the United Nations said after the first deliveries of aid in months arrived in the besieged town, AFP reports.

Aid workers found the 400 Syrians suffering from starvation, malnourishment and other illnesses during a visit to a hospital in Madaya, said UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien.

The United Nations has asked the Syrian government and armed groups controlling access the town to allow the 400 Syrians to be transported out of Madaya, he said.

Hours earlier, a convoy of 44 trucks loaded with food, baby formula, blankets and other supplies entered Madaya, which has been under siege by President Bashar al-Assad's forces for six months. An additional 21 trucks delivered supplies to two other towns besieged by the rebels: Fuaa and Kafraya.

The council met to discuss the situation in Madaya where residents told AFP they had resorted to eating grass and killing cats for meat to survive. The medical charity MSF says 28 people have starved to death since December 1.

Permission for secure access must come from "all the parties who govern any of the routes that need to be deployed, either for the ambulances or for any kind of air rescue," said O'Brien.

Syria's UN envoy Bashar Jaafari dismissed reports of starvation in Madaya as fabrications and accused "terrorists inside" the town of stealing the supplies.