Posted 12 September 2006 @ 07:24
Updated 12 September 2006 @ 07:47
JAKARTA, 12 September 2006 - An ever-expanding ten-mile square lake of hot oozing mud has already forced up to 10,000 people from their homes in Indonesia, after a deep-bore drilling operation went terribly wrong somehow. The drilling company, Lapindo Brantas, has admitted responsibility for the gigantic, bubbling torrent of noxious mud, which has already destroyed twelve factories and seven villages in East Java. However, they are refusing to explain exactly why the Earth is spewing unstoppable toxic goop, citing an ongoing police investigation.
The mud, which belches smoke and is up to 20ft deep in places, has been found to contain a substance called phenol, which can cause breathing difficulties and skin irritation. Since the mud first appeared following the drilling of a two-mile deep well in late May, all attempts at stopping it have proved at best ineffective, at worst counterproductive. Barriers have been overwhelmed, and a pond dug by Lapindo to contain the mud burst in early August, forcing even more residents to flee.
Locals are increasingly angry about the Lapindo and government's failure to defeat the mud. A campsite used by Lapindo workers was set alight, and there have been accusations that Aburizal Bakrie, the Indonesian government minister in charge of the response to disasters, has a financial stake in the drilling project. Currently, Lapindo claim they plan to stop the mudflow by removing all the water from it, treating the water so that it is non-toxic, and then diverting that water into local rivers. They have asked people to be patient while the mud consumes their homes.
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