Coast Guard says Search continues for 11 workers missing since explosion

Oil slick spreads from sunken rig
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 22, 2010 6:11 p.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Officials don't know whether slick is leaking from rig or well, or is residue from fire
Oil slick measuring 1-by-5 miles spreads from site of sunken rig, Coast Guard says
Search continues for 11 workers missing since explosion Tuesday night on rig
Federal lawsuit alleges companies connected to oil rig explosion were negligent
(CNN) -- A 1-by-5-mile sheen of crude oil mix has spread across the Gulf of Mexico's surface around the area where an oil rig exploded and sank, a Coast Guard lieutenant said Thursday.

"This is a rainbow sheen with a dark center," Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry told reporters Thursday afternoon.

Officials do not know whether oil or fuel are leaking form the sunken Deepwater Horizon rig and the well below, but BP Vice President David Rainey said "it certainly has the potential to be a major spill." BP PLC operates the license on which the rig was drilling.

A remotely-operated vehicle is surveying the area and cleanup efforts are already under way, Landry said. The sheen "probably is residual from the fire and the activity that was going on on this rig before it sank below the surface," she said.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard continued to search for 11 people missing after an explosion late Tuesday set the rig ablaze forcing workers to be evacuated from the vessel. Officials are still unsure what caused the blast.
read more here
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/22/oil.rig.explosion/index.html?hpt=T2