Hundreds of houses damaged by oil fire

Hundreds of houses damaged by oil fire

CILACAP, Central Java: A total of 589 houses were damaged due to their proximity to the seven oil storage tanks belonging to the state-oil company Pertamina, which were set ablaze recently.

A spokesman at the Cilacap regency said the residents of the villages of Donan, Lomanis and Tambakrejo suffered Rp 71 million in losses (approximately US$31,374).

In addition, a total of 732 wells have also been polluted by the disaster, forcing the locals to seek other sources of clean water, Soeprihono was quoted by Antara as saying.

Thousands of residents were evacuated from their homes when the oil storage tanks were set ablaze after one of them was hit by a lightning bolt late last month. The material losses of the tanks alone are estimated at Rp 28 billion (US$12.27 million). (swe)