Nine years ago, a rice paddy in eastern Java suddenly began spewing mud. Before long, it covered three square miles;  roads factories and homes disappeared under a tide of muck.  Twenty lives were lost and nearly 40,000 people displaced, with damages topping $ 2.7 billion.  The disaster,  known as the Lusi mudflow, continues to have its impact till now. A mud volcano, Lusi expels water and clay rather than molten rock. such eruptions occur around the world,   but Lusi is the biggest and most damaging know. Scientists have debated the cause for years. and two intensely argued hypotheses have emerged: Some believe and earthquake set off the disaster,  others that the mudflow was caused by a  company drilling for natural gas. Researchers largely relied on computer models and comparisons with other earthquakes and mud volcano eruptions. But recently scientists uncovered a previously overlooked set of gas, reading collected at the drilling sites by Lapindo BBrantas, a natural gas and oil company, in the days before the mudflow began. In a report in, the new data proves that the drilling by the company caused the disaster.