Gas Bursts At Al-Ihsan Ponpes Pekanbaru Are Toxic And Potential To Burn

PEKANBARU - Team from the Department of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Riau together with gas company EMP Bentu Ltd. handling the incidents of natural gas gushing at the Al-Ihsan Islamic Boarding School in Pekanbaru.

"Friends of ESDM and EMP Bentu have visited the location to ensure that the gas is not dangerous and will handle it directly," said Head of the Riau Province Information and Information Communication (Diskominfotic) Office Chairul Riski in Pekanbaru, quoted by Antara, Thursday, February 4.

Based on the team's report to Al-Ihsan Islamic Boarding School, it is known that the gas burst point is 180 meters from the EMP Bentu gas pipe, and 1 kilometer from the EMP Bentu gas well.

Anticipatory measures that have been taken by the team include measuring the LEL (Lower Explosive Limit) content and H2S content at the location of the gas burst. As a result, it was found that at a distance of five meters the LEL content was 13 percent and 1ppm H2S.

"This means that the gas is quite dangerous, has the potential to burn and is poisonous," said Riski, citing the team's report.

He said the team instructed the Al-Ihsan Islamic Boarding School Manager to localize the burst area and prohibit anyone from approaching it. Furthermore, EMP Bentu will monitor the LEL and H2S periodically every six hours.

"EMP Bentu will install a yellow line for a safe limit," said Riski.

The board of the boarding school plans to temporarily evacuate the students until the conditions are safe, namely the LEL content is 0 percent and H2S 0 ppm.

Dozens of students from the Al-Ihsan Islamic Boarding School, Tenayan Raya Subdistrict, Pekanbaru City, have been evacuated due to the sudden bursts of natural gas that occurred during the excavation process to find water sources in that place.

"There are 34 students who were evacuated to the central Al-Ihsan Islamic Boarding School," said Al-Ihsan Islamic Boarding School guard officer, Sugiarto.

Sugiarto said natural gas suddenly burst out when a number of workers dug the ground to drill a well on Thursday afternoon, around 14.00 WIB. The burst of gas makes quite a loud sound and the height of the burst is estimated at 15 meters.

"Now we are making bore wells. At a depth of 119 meters, (gas) sprays," he said.

The location of the blast is close to the Hafiz Al-Quran santri hostel building. The gas that comes out also creates an unpleasant odor. Worried about the safety of the residents of Al-Ihsan Islamic Boarding School, he continued, the management stopped all activities and evacuated dozens of students.