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Hot toxic mud engulfs villages and farmland

John Aglionby

11,000 persons have lost their homes or been forced to evacuate

— PHOTO: AP

Residents carry their belongings through mud as they leave their homes in Porong, Indonesia.

Porong (Indonesia): Four villages and 19 factories have been submerged in a 240-hectare sea of mud in East Java that is growing up to 50,000 cubic metres a day in a major environmental disaster triggered during an oil exploration venture.

A few rooftops are still visible, along with hastily constructed dykes which could not hold back the flow of toxic mud that began on May 29 around an oil exploration drilling rig.

Eighteen kilometres of dykes are being built by 1,500 soldiers and labourers around the clock to contain the growing catastrophe, in which 11,000 persons have lost their homes or been forced to evacuate.

The company, which is facing daily protests from residents, now accepts its drilling may have caused the world's largest disaster of its kind.

A 100 metre-high column of thick white smoke is visible several kilometres from Porong district, 35km south of Indonesia's second largest city, Surabaya, in East Java, and the smell of rotten eggs pervades the hazy tropical air. The mud is up to seven metres deep, and every few seconds the earth jolts and another dollop of hot sediment belches out. Occasionally the mud exits more dramatically, shooting up several metres into the air with a loud ``whooosh.'' The gas stings people's eyes and it is impossible to breathe without taking in the fumes, even with a mask.

The drilling company is PT Lapindo Brantas, which is controlled by the family of Indonesia's powerful senior Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie. Its senior vice-president in charge of the clean-up, Imam Agustino, admits he has no idea when the mudflow will be stopped, let alone when the affected land will be useable again.

``We don't know if the source of the mud really comes from the well bore or somewhere else,'' he told the Guardian. ``The best-case scenario [for stopping the mudflow] is now mid-November, but I have to admit it might never be stopped.''

Porong's ``mud volcano'' is coming from liquid sediment up to 2,750 metres deep that was formed 5 million years ago, the Jakarta Post reported. The first two attempts to block the flow — by plugging the borehole, which extends two miles underground, and pumping concrete into its bottom — had to be abandoned when the mud continued to rise.

Despite Mr. Imam claiming it was too early to blame Lapindo, Mr. Witoelar had no doubts. ``Lapindo has to pay for its mistake and restore the environment,'' he said. Nine persons, mainly from Lapindo and the drilling sub-contractor, are being investigated by police, and trials could start within weeks. The drilling rig that was being used when the mud started flowing will be introduced as evidence.

— © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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