INDONESIA-ENVIRONMENT-MUD-RAIL

A train passes past seeping mud in Sidoarjo, 22 December 2006. A massive "mud volcano" which has forced thousands of people to flee their homes on the Indonesian island of Java is now threatening to sumberge a key railway line, a minister said. A gas well near Surabaya in East Java has spewed steaming mud since May, submerging villages, industries and agricultural land and forcing 13,000 people to flee their homes. The advancing sea of mud now threatens to submerge the main railway line connecting Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city, with the rest of East Java. AFP PHOTO/ AGUNG SWASTIKA