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Indonesian mudflow may last a century

Mud, gas and boiling water that have been gushing out of the ground in east Java since May, submerging half a dozen villages and 20 factories, could continue for a century with "catastrophic consequences," European experts said on Monday

Barriers built to control the torrent gushing out from an exploratory oil well in Indonesia failed to hold late on Monday, injuring six workers and inundating nearby villages.

Several experts have said the mudflow, which started flowing on May 29, a couple of hundred meters from where the gas company PT Lapindo Brantas was drilling an exploratory well nearly two miles deep, could have been triggered by a crack about 1,800m deep in East Java Province's Banjar Panji well.

The mud has swamped four villages over an area larger than Monaco, displacing more than 10,000 people and highlighting the checkered environmental practices in exploiting resources in Indonesia.

The Monday night barrier breaches had been predicted by hundreds of villagers living near the sand-and-gravel dykes who fled the area last week. But, several site workers who stayed in the abandoned houses failed to anticipate the flood.

"Around 9pm, I heard thunder and my bed shook. When I woke up, hot mud was already knee deep," said excavator operator Effendi, who suffered bruises.

The surge injured five of his colleagues. One had burns from waist to ankle.

In Jakarta, European scientists said the flow might be coming from an emerging mud volcano.

The Media Indonesia daily newspaper yesterday quoted geologist Adriano Mazzini from Norway's Oslo University saying the burst might be unstoppable and that guessing the timing of the flows and their possible end could be impossible.

That theory has been raised before by a few Indonesian scientists and those working for the well operator which disputes the mud is directly connected with the drilling operation at its Banjar Panji well.

Engineers hired by Lapindo, including US and Australian experts, have so far failed to stop the flow of around 50,000m3 of hot mud every day.

The ongoing crisis has forced the local government in East Java Province to allow the channeling of the muddy water into a nearby river, despite concerns it could pollute the ocean, a source of income for millions living on Java's eastern coast.

"We are racing against time. The rainy season is near and we must reduce the pressure against the dykes," Sidoarjo deputy regent Syaiful Illah said.

Jakarta officials want to remove the water from the mud, treat it and then allow it to flow into the sea through a 20km pipeline which may take months to be approved.
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