The Seahawk choppers, based on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, flew two dozen missions along 120 miles of the west coast of Sumatra island, rescuing 60 victims of the Dec. 26 quake-tsunami disaster.

Many of the survivors including children, the elderly and two pregnant women were too weak to speak or move after eight days with little food or water.

Doctors said they suffered from pneumonia, broken bones, infected wounds and tetanus. At least 25 were in critical condition.

The rescue missions occurred as Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in Bangkok on the first leg of a tour of nations devastated by the tsunamis.

"There is no shortage of money at the moment," Powell said. "A lot of aid is now pouring in, but I think the real challenge will be the distribution of aid out of ports and off the airfields."

U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said the death toll from the disaster had reached 150,000 a third of them children but was certain to rise.

"The death toll will grow exponentially on the western coast of Sumatra," he said. "We may be talking about tens of thousands [more]."

"What will be the final toll we will never know," he added. "I would just say that, at this stage, that it is beyond comprehension."

The Seahawk pilots flew the 60 survivors to a medical field station in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital of Sumatra's northern Aceh province.

The ones not rushed inside on stretchers were placed on a blue plastic sheet, among them a girl carrying a Snoopy doll.

Some cried, and aid workers stroked their arms and backs to comfort them. The workers gave them chocolate wafers, water, sweaters and T-shirts.

In the shattered village of Meulaboh, the hospital emergency room was too crowded to admit all the injured. One man was hooked up to an intravenous drip that hung from a tree branch outside.

In Lam Jamek, another ruined village, survivors used an elephant to pull a vehicle to Banda Aceh.

The pilots said columns of refugees were trudging up the coast toward Banda Aceh.

"All the villagers started coming out of the woodwork, telling us they needed help. They said there were a lot more wounded people further inland up in the mountains," said Lt. Cmdr. Joel Moss.

Added Senior Chief Jesse Cash of Albuquerque, N.M., who has served in Somalia and Liberia: "In my 17 years of service, I have never seen such devastation and I hope that I'll never see such again in my life."

Amid the chaos, there were tales of survival.

Four Indonesian fishermen were found alive in the sea near India's Andaman and Nicobar islands.

A tuna boat rescued a 23-year-old Sumatra woman named Melawati after she drifted in the Indian Ocean for five days, clinging to an uprooted palm.

Melawati had been bitten by fish and traumatized by the terrifying ordeal, but was alive after living on the palm's fruit and bark.

Crew members said the woman, clad only in her underpants because her clothes had been ripped to shreds, waved frantically to attract their attention.

Melawati, who cried throughout her three days aboard the trawler, arrived for medical treatment yesterday in Malaysia's Penang island.

More U.S. aid is coming via the USS Bonhomme Richard and two other warships carrying 2,200 Marines, dozens of helicopters and tons of supplies steamed into the Indian Ocean to join relief operations off Sumatra and Sri Lanka.

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