Indonesian disaster team attempting to plug mudflow in East Java

Feb 26, 2007, 8:35 GMT

Jakarta - An Indonesian government disaster team on Monday resumed dropping giant concrete balls into the crater of a mud volcano in East Java in hopes of stopping an out-of-control flow that has inundated some 5-square kilometres and displaced thousands.

The team, which has been hampered by mechanical problems and bad weather, plans to drop dozens of balls weighing 200 kilograms each into the hole in hopes of reducing the mudflow by up to 70 per cent, according to local reports.

The mudflow was sparked by an accident at a gas exploration drilling site in May 2006 in the East Java town of Sidoarjo, inundating entire villages, a toll road and nearby factories with oozing mud and displacing more than 25,000 people.

During the weekend, rain and mechanical problems on a wench forced officials to halt the ball-dropping operation.

On Monday, however, the team successfully placed four balls that were chained together into the crater and were hoping to add five more before nightfall, Rudi Novrianto, spokesman of national disaster management team

'It's only light rain. It isn't hampering the process,' he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Several geologists have expressed doubts that the balls would reduce the mudflow, The Jakarta Post reported on Monday.

The exploration drill, operated by the Indonesian company Lapindo Brantas, apparently hit the mud volcano will drilling at a depth of 3,000 metres. The company is owned by the family of business tycoon Aburizal Bakrie, the minister of people's welfare.

Police investigators say Lapindo may be criminally negligent because it failed to install safety casings at the lower depths of the drilling shaft to prevent leakage. Several company officials are under investigation in connection with the case.

However, that has not stopped Bakrie, a rich and powerful politician, from insisting the mudflow was triggered by an earthquake in Central Java two days beforehand, a claim discounted by international geologists.

The Indonesian government has ordered Lapindo to pay 420 million dollars in compensation to victims of the mudflow, which is being called the worst environmental disaster in the country's history.