Thailand says Myanmar's port reopens for foreign aid

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Myanmar's main port in the former capital Yangon has re-opened after Cyclone Nargis and will receive a shipment of diesel from Thailand on Wednesday, a Thai official said on Monday.

"The Myanmar government told us it has reopened the Thilawa port in Yangon as another channel to receive international humanitarian aid," Thai government spokesman Wichianchot Sukchotrat told reporters in Bangkok.

Thailand's state-run energy firm, PTT Pcl, had donated 480,000 litres of diesel to Myanmar where chronic fuel shortages have worsened since the severe cyclone struck 10 days ago.

"They have asked all countries to send ships with relief aid to this port, especially construction materials," he said after a Thai delegation returned from Myanmar on Sunday.

As many as 100,000 people are feared to have died and the U.N. humanitarian agency said in a new assessment that between 1.2 million and 1.9 million people were struggling to survive in the aftermath of the storm.

Overland aid convoys from Thailand began last week along a 400 km (250 miles) road from the Thai border town of Mae Sot to the former Myanmar capital Yangon.

(Reporting by Nopporn Wong-Anan; Editing by Darren Schuettler)