Oil rig disaster prompts major spill fear
Updated on 23 April 2010
A major environmental disaster looms in the Gulf of Mexico, off the Louisiana coast, after an oil rig that had burned for 36 hours sank last night.
Hopes are fading of finding 11 workers who have been missing since the blast on Tuesday.
The rig was drilling BP plc's Macondo project with 126 workers on board when it was ripped by an explosion and fire.
A spokesman for the local coastguard said: “We do continue with search and rescue activities. As time passes, however, the probability of success in locating the 11 missing persons decreases.”
It is still not clear whether the oil rig sank to the bottom of the sea, or how much oil is still flowing, or had spilled, from the well.
The explosion comes almost three weeks after President Barack Obama unveiled plans for a limited expansion of US offshore oil and gas drilling.
