Freeport conducts diarrhea study

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya: A recent outbreak of diarrhea in West Mimika district has killed 19, and not 25 people as earlier reported in the media, copper mining company PT Freeport Indonesia said Tuesday.

The number was established in an investigation conducted by the company's public health and malaria control department in cooperation with the provincial office of the Ministry of Health, according to Antara.

The investigation was supported by nine medical experts from the local health office and was conducted in 10 villages such as Akar, Uta, Wuwuka, Mapar, Kapia, Manoware, Kaar, Poronggo, Kokonao and Kiyura.

The experts said the diarrhea spread because locals lived in an unhealthy environment where clean water was scarce.

The diarrhea epidemic struck when people from several villages came to Kokonao to celebrate Christmas. They built makeshift huts by the river and polluted the water.

Most of those who died were visitors from outside Kokonao who drank the polluted water.

The mining company refuted the statement of the chairman of a local non-governmental cooperation forum, Budi Setyono, that the diarrhea was caused by polluted water from a mining area. (swe)