INDONESIA:Three more bodies were found yesterday near the scene of a gas pipeline explosion in Indonesia's East Java province which was linked to a devastating mudflow, pushing the overall death toll to 11.
The blast happened late on Wednesday, and disrupted gas operations in the region covered by state oil company Pertamina's East Java gas pipeline.
Hot mud had been gushing unchecked from near the Banjar Panji exploratory gas well since the end of May, following a drilling accident.
The pipeline was located underneath sand-and-gravel dikes made to contain the mud. The transmission pipe broke after land subsidence hiked the pressure, igniting some of the gas.
The mudflow has inundated several villages, dozens of factories and swathes of paddy and sugarcane fields, causing an unfolding environmental disaster in Sidoarjo, an industrial suburb of Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city and port.
Three more bodies were found yesterday, officials said, and rescuers were still searching for one more missing person.
The dead and missing were soldiers or site workers assigned to help contain the mud.
On Thursday, the president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, ordered the total closure of the 440 hectares affected by the mudflow, saying it was considered a dangerous area.
The Banjar Panji well was operated by Indonesia's Lapindo Brantas, a unit of PT Energi Mega Persada, partly owned by the Bakrie Group, which is controlled by the family of Indonesia's chief social welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie.
The firm has denied the mud flow is directly linked to the exploratory drilling operation. - (Reuters)