Oil booms protect a small island along Port East in the Gulf of Mexico, south of Louisiana April 29, 2010. A massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico neared wildlife refuges and seafood grounds along the Louisiana coast on Friday, as efforts redoubled to avert what could become one of the worst US ecological disasters. The leak from a ruptured oil well on the ocean floor off the coast of the southern state is pouring out crude oil at a rate of up to 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons or 955,000 litres) a day, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - five times more oil than previously thought.[Photo/Agencies] |
