Engineers To Stem Mud Flow With Concrete Balls

SIDOARJO, INDONESIA - March 1: Indonesian workers drop chained concrete balls to help stem mudflow, March 1, 2007 in Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia. Over the next few weeks, authorities plan to drop nearly 1,500 balls each weighing up to 88 pounds into the crater that started spewing mud at a gas drilling field on the island of Java nine months ago. The team hopes the balls will reduce the mud flow which is surging out at a rate equivalent to about 1 million oil drums per day and has engulfed hundreds of homes and displaced 11,000 people. PT Lapindo Brantas, the company blamed for the mudflow, has been ordered by the government to pay US$420 million to victims and for efforts to stop the mud. (Photo by: Dimas Ardian / Getty Images)