ON THE GULF OF MEXICO (AP) — A 100-ton containment box is being lowered into the Gulf of Mexico in an unprecedented attempt to divert oil spewing from a well at the bottom of the sea.
The four-story high concrete-and-steel box was being eased into the water late Thursday. Officials have said it may take two days to precisely lower the system 5,000-feet and fit it over the leak.
Similiar contraptions were used in shallow waters after Hurricane Katrina, but nothing has ever been tried at this depth. It will take hours to reach the seafloor.
If it works, BP thinks the box could capture about 85 percent of the oil spewing from the well, threatening sealife and livelihoods along the Gulf Coast.
The well has been gushing at least 210,000 gallons of crude a day after an oil rig exploded April 20, killing 11 workers.
