8.2 million lives at stake as deadly Cyclone Mahasen bears down on India, Bangladesh, Myanmar

The UN says a cyclone churning through the Indian Ocean appears to have weakened but could still bring "life-threatening" conditions to 8.2 million people along the coasts of India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Cyclone Mahasen is forecast to reach land early Friday and has been downgraded to a Category 1 storm, the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Wednesday.

Much attention is focused on western Myanmar, where it is feared that heavy rains will swamp low-lying camps housing tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled sectarian violence last year.

Myanmar's southern delta was devastated in 2008 by Cyclone Nargis, which swept away entire farming villages and killed more than 130,000 people.

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