SIDOARJO, Indonesia (AP) — Residents in the East Java province of Indonesia scattered flowers, paid their respects and prayed at the edge of a mud lake on Friday, the 20th anniversary of the eruption of the Lusi mud volcano that inundated villages and killed at least 14 people.The eruption on May 29, 2006, was likely triggered by commercial gas drilling by a local exploration company, according to scientific research, contradicting an Indonesian government minister at the time who insisted it was a natural disaster.Residents gathered to remember those killed, and the homes and neighborhoods they once lived in before boiling mud slowly swallowed them up in the Porong subdistrict in Sidoarjo. For years, experts have been searching for ways to slow the spread of the sludge. But all measures, including the construction of holding dams, to stop it have failed. The volcano continues to erupt to this day.
The 14 deaths included a worker who was killed in August 2006 when the digger he was using fell off a levee, and the 13 other victims died in November 2006 when an underground gas pipeline beneath one of the holding dams exploded.
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Tens of thousands of residents were displaced after losing their homes, land, jobs and even their ancestors’ graves. One resident, Sastro, 55, lost his house and his former job as a factory worker. The factory where he worked was submerged in mud, along with thousands of other structures within the 572-hectare (more than 1,400-acre) sea of mud.
