Pertamina asked to clean up Musi River

State oil and gas firm Pertamina has been urged to clean up the Musi River in South Sumatra, which was recently contaminated by 363 tons of diesel fuel transported from its fuel storage, Koran Tempo daily reported Wednesday.

The owner of the barge transporting the diesel oil was also held responsible for the river pollution, the paper quoted as saying the director of the South Sumatra office of Indonesia Environmental Forum (Walhi), Aidil Fitri.

Pollution on the Musi River followed Monday?s collision between a diesel oil barge and a Vietnam-flagged vessel. The barge was transporting 363 tons of diesel fuel from Pertamina?s depot in Plaju to another place in South Sumatra where a power plant would use it as its source of energy. (*)