Indonesian "mud volcano" victims block roads, railway
Posted: 24 February 2007 1320 hrs

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JAKARTA: Hundreds of residents, whose houses have been submerged by a "mud volcano", blocked a main road junction and railway, causing major congestion near Indonesia's second largest city.

A gas well near Surabaya in East Java has spewed steaming mud since May last year, submerging villages, factories and fields, and forcing more than 15,000 people to flee their homes.

Around 500 protestors demanding compensation blocked the road junction, which is one of the main southern entrances to Surabaya, and an adjoining railway line, causing huge tailbacks and virtually paralyzing the railway system connecting the provincial capital to other parts of East Java.

Police dispersed protestors but they moved south towards Sidoarjo, 20 kilometres (12 miles) away, to continue their protest.

State news agency Antara quoted Surabaya police chief Anang Iskandar as saying about 1,000 police dealt with the incident.

"We will be firm if they block (this) road again," he said, adding that police would consider using force if necessary.

Protestors said they would keep blocking main roads to Surabaya until their demands for compensation were met.

"We will stay here until we are compensated of our losses," protest coordinator Agus Haryanto told AFP.

Railway officer Sudarsono told ElShinta news radio "the protest that started Thursday afternoon at 3:00 pm (0800 GMT) had caused a 5-kilometre (section) to be impassable."

"We have (had) to re-route trains between Surabaya and Malang," he said, adding that at least 40 scheduled train were cancelled or rerouted.

"Some of us met with the governor this morning and they offered to relocate us, but we want cash not being relocated," Haryanto said.

Haryanto, who has lost his house, said he had been forced to stay in a temporary shelter with his wife and young child after his house was inundated with the noxious mud. "Only the roof is visible now," he said.

Efforts to slow the massive mudflow by plugging the crater with concrete balls have been further delayed.

"We have not secured the cables yet," Rudy Novrianto, spokesman for the government team handling the crisis, told AFP.

The attempt to plug the "mud volcano" involves dropping hundreds of concrete balls chained together in groups from a cable held by two cranes, into the well, which is operated by PT Lapindo Brantas.

The concrete balls are expected to slow the outflow by between 50 and 70 percent.

The advancing sea of mud has blocked a nearby main road and is now threatening to swamp a key railway, which is to be rerouted away from the danger zone.

However, several geologists have said the scheme is likely to fail.

Welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie claimed last month that the flow was a "natural disaster" unrelated to the drilling activities of Lapindo, which belongs to a group controlled by his family.

However, a study by British experts said the eruption was most likely caused by drilling for gas.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has already ordered Lapindo to pay 3.8 trillion rupiah (420 million dollars) in compensation and costs related to the disaster.

- AFP/ir