UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- The humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia's Tigray region is spinning out of control with 5.2 million people needing food aid, 400,000 of them in famine-like conditions, UN humanitarians said on Wednesday.

After 11 months of conflict and three months of a de facto blockade, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said the situation is likely to get far worse. He pointed to desert locusts, a potential poor harvest, humanitarian aid not getting through, and conflict spreading into the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions.

"Griffiths said that he continues to engage with Ethiopian government authorities to advocate for the easing of these blockade-like conditions and to allow for sustained and regular access to aid convoys," said Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Humanitarians say the delivery of aid into Tigray, including fuel, remains a challenge, Dujarric said.

"In the past week, 79 trucks carrying aid arrived in Tigray via the Semera-Abala-Mekelle corridor," he said. "This brings the total number of humanitarian trucks that have entered Tigray since July 12 to 606. As has been said many times, 100 trucks should enter Tigray every day."

Still, trucks carrying fuel and medical supplies cannot enter Tigray, Dujarric said, and trucks are waiting in Semera, Afar, to travel to Mekelle, Tigray.

Commercial supplies have been blocked since the end of June, causing severe shortages of essential commodities and a sharp rise in prices, he said. For example, the price of cooking oil has increased by 400 percent, salt by 300 percent, and rice by 100 percent.

Humanitarian partners continue to respond to urgent needs in the area but are facing the depletion of stocks and resources, the spokesman said. "Our humanitarian colleagues say that child malnutrition is at the same level as at the onset of the 2011 Somalia famine." Enditem

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