KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Two Malaysian Medical Relief Society (Mercy) officers will fly to Myanmar Thursday night to facilitate and support relief work for the survivors of cyclone Nargis that has so far claimed more than 22,000 lives.

    The two program officers will fly to Bangkok at 10 p.m. (1500 GMT) before taking a connecting flight to Yangon at 7 a.m. (0000 GMT) on Friday.

    The two officers will be joined by a second team which is scheduled to leave Kuala Lumpur at 10 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Friday, Mercy Malaysia general manager Mona Hanim Sheikh Mahmud said in a statement here on Thursday.

    Mercy Malaysia is presently preparing emergency relief items to be sent to Yangon, which among others include 57,600 pieces of water purification sachets with each sachet capable of purifying 10 liters of water.

    Safe portable water is critically needed by survivors of the 190kph cyclone that has devastated a 30,000 square-kilometer area in Myanmar.

    Other items include 2,000 kilograms of plastic sheets and 50 kilograms of pharmaceutical drugs.

    "However, we are facing logistical issues for the transportation of our relief items to Yangon. We are hoping that a solution will present itself soon," Malaysian national news agency Bernama quoted Mona Hanim as saying.

    Mercy Malaysia president Jemilah Mahmood joined a United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team in Yangon since last Monday to facilitate and support international assistance arriving in the beleaguered country.

    "Mercy Malaysia is grateful for the support of the Embassy of the Union of Myanmar in Kuala Lumpur for allowing us to deploy our relief team," Mona Hanim added.