Beijing - A second 500,000-dollar shipment of 60 tons of medicine, tents, food, water purifiers and other relief materials arrived in Myanmar from China on Friday, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The Chinese government sent the shipment on a specially commandeered Beijing 747-400 cargo plane as part of its commitment, announced on Thursday, to provide a second tranche of aid valued at 30 million yuan (4.2 million dollars) to its cyclone-devastated neighbour.

Myanmar's Deputy Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, Brigadier-General Kyaw Myint, told the agency at Yangon international airport that the relief supplies would be rushed out to cyclone-hit ares.

The same plane flew another load of relief materials valued at 500,000 dollars to Myanmar on Wednesday as part of China's initial aid pledge, which also included 500,000 dollars in cash.

More relief materials from China were scheduled to arrive in Yangon on Saturday, the agency quoted Chinese officials as saying.

According to the government's latest figures, the cyclone claimed 22,997 lives, left 42,119 missing.

Other sources estimate the death toll is closer to 100,000. (dpa)