YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - The bodies of tens of thousands of people killed in Myanmar’s cyclone will probably never be identified because they were washed miles from their homes and have decomposed so badly, an aid agency said Sunday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said burying the estimated 78,000 killed when the storm hit has taken a back seat to trying to assist the 2.4 million survivors, many of whom are still without adequate food, water and shelter. Government’s restrictions on aid workers accessing the delta has made that task all the more difficult.

As a result, bloated bodies still litter the Irrawaddy delta more than five weeks after Cyclone Nargis struck. Some have been dumped in canals and unmarked mass graves or cremated, while others remain untouched.

"Identifying bodies at this stage will be incredibly difficult," said Craig Strathern, a Red Cross spokesman in Myanmar.

"Many now are in advanced stages of decay and the information we have been able to gather is that many of the bodies that were affected by the tidal surges were stripped of clothing and any identifying items," he said. "We have reports that some bodies ended up seven kilometers (four miles) from their place of origin."

Strathern said the Red Cross last week began distributing kits - with body bags and forms to list where a body is buried and any details identifying it - for volunteers wanting to dispose of the dead.