(BRUSSELS) - The EU Commission said Friday it had managed to boost its aid to cyclone-stricken Myanmar, while calling on the regime there to allow greater international access to help save "hundreds of thousands of lives".

The EU's executive arm announced it had sent four humanitarian experts to Yangon -- two Spaniards, one Frenchman and a German who arrived late Thursday from the commission's humanitarian offices in Bangkok and New Delhi.

"This is just the first step in resolving the access problems encountered by the aid teams, and there is still a lot to do," EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said in a statement.

"I don't want to make this catastrophe into a political statement against the Burmese authorities. We only want to provide humanitarian assistance in a neutral and independent manner," he added.

"To do this, humanitarian professionals must have access to the victims as soon as possible. We are talking about saving hundreds of thousands of lives".

The four EU experts join Bernard Delpuech, the humanitarian expert responsible for the commission's office in Yangon, who has been in the country for three years.

Also Friday the EU's Humanitarian Aid department signed contracts with three of its partners already operating in the Irrawaddy delta region, great swathes of which have been submerged.

The deals are with the International Federation of the Red Cross, World Vision UK and Merlin UK. They are for the distribution of shelter materials, drinking water, water purification systems, latrines and primary healthcare equipment, including aid delivered by mobile teams and assistance to get to hospital.

Michel said Thursday that the European Commission could release up to 30 million euros (46 million dollars) or more in aid for Myanmar if authorities there give greater access to relief teams.

The news came after the UN food agency on Friday suspended all aid flights into Myanmar over "unacceptable" restrictions by the junta, which has refused to allow foreign relief workers to help the desperate cyclone survivors.

Countless masses are suffering in the country's waterlogged southern delta, where huge swathes of terrain remain under water since Cyclone Nargis struck last Saturday, and entire villages were washed or blown away.

The United Nations estimates that 1.5 million people have been affected by the disaster and, as each hour passes without clean water and food, they are at ever greater risk of starvation and disease.

The regime says the death toll is almost 23,000 with another 42,000 missing. The United States says the toll could be around 100,000.

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