BP to lower giant box over oil leak
- 14 years ago
BP is about to lower a huge metal box over a Gulf of Mexico oil spill in a last-ditch attempt to head off an environmental disaster.
One of the company's wells blew out two weeks ago, 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana, sinking the Deepwater Horizon rig.
Millions of gallons of oil have seeped out into the sea, and the slick is expected to hit the coast of the southern United States within days.
A ship carrying the giant white-painted box has arrived at the site of the spill. BP says it is hopeful the 98-tonne device will help to contain the oil and funnel it to a tanker.
The US is to carry out a controlled burn of some of the leaked oil to stop it from getting closer to the shore of Louisiana and Mississippi.
A sheen of oil has washed ashore on uninhabited Freemason Island in the Chandeleur chain. It is the first confirmed report of oil reaching the US shoreline.