Residents affected by the Lapindo mudflow and environmental activists mark 20 years since a gas exploration accident triggered a mud flow in Porong, Sidoarjo, East Java province, on May 29, 2026. [AFP]
Harwati clasped her hands and offered a prayer on the edge of a sludge lake on the Indonesian island of Java, as dozen of residents gathered to mark two decades since mud volcano eruptions began displacing thousands.
On May 29, 2006, the earth in the Sidoarjo district of East Java province opened up, ejecting pungent, steaming hot mud that swallowed villages and factories.
Thirteen people died when an underground gas pipeline in the disaster zone exploded.
The eruptions, which continue to occur, destroyed at least a dozen villages and have displaced tens of thousands of people.
