Death toll from Indonesia gas pipe blast hits 13

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

Jakarta, Dec 3: A 43-year-old man died today from injuries sustained after a gas pipeline explosion in Java island last month, taking the toll from the disaster to 13, media reports said.

The November 22 blast, which disrupted gas operations in the region covered by state oil company Pertamina's East Java Gas Pipeline, occurred in an area where hot mud has been gushing unchecked since the end of May following a drilling accident.

The man suffered more than 52 per cent burns to his body after the blast, Metro TV reported.

The state Antara news agency said two more people were still missing after the 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.

Anger has been mounting in the area with the mud pouring out at a rate of 50,000 cubic metres a day from the well despite various attempts to plug the leak.

The mudflow has inundated a major toll road, several villages, dozens of factories and swathes of paddy and sugarcane fields, causing an unfolding environmental disaster in Sidoarjo, an industrial suburb of Indonesia's second largest city Surabaya.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered last week the total closure of the 1,090 acre area affected by the mudflow, saying it was considered a dangerous area.

REUTERS

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