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Jakarta - Indonesia is likely to pipe hot mud that is surging from a gas well into the sea to head off an unfolding crisis, even though the sludge might kill marine life, a minister said on Tuesday.

The mud, which runs 5m deep in some places, has submerged houses in four villages since it started spewing from a hole on densely populated Java Island almost four months ago, displacing more than 10 000 people.

Geologists fear the torrent may be unstoppable, posing a problem for local authorities in East Java, which up to now have been containing the sludge in an ever expanding network of earth dams.

Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said that the president "had hinted that the mud would be disposed in the sea," but that a formal decision would be announced on Wednesday.

Environmental groups have opposed the plan to dump the mud into the sea, fearing it could disturb marine life. Tests have shown the mud not especially dangerous to human health.

"Do we want to save humans or fish?" Kirmanto told reporters.

"If we choose saving fish, it means that more villages will sink."

Police say they plan to file criminal charges against nine employees from the gas exploration company, Lapindo Brantas, over the disaster, alleging its drilling activities triggered the mud and that it failed to respond to the torrent in the correct way.

The company says seismic activity might have caused the mud to break the surface.

Source - IOL