Late on the night of April 20th, 50 miles from the shore of Louisiana, a fire broke out aboard the Transocean Deepwater Horizon oil rig under lease by BP, with 126 individuals on board. After a massive explosion, all but 11 of the crew managed to escape as the rig was consumed by fire, later collapsing and sinking into the Gulf. Safeguards set in place to automatically cap the oil well in case of catastrophe did not work as expected, and now an estimated 5,000 barrels (over 200,000 gallons) of crude oil is pouring into the Gulf of Mexico every day - and could possibly continue to do so for months as complicated efforts are made to stop the leak. Collected here are several recent photos of the developing situation along Louisiana's Gulf Shore - one with the potential to eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in scope and damage. (32 photos total)
Two brown pelicans and a flock of seagulls rest on the shore of Ship Island as a boom line floats just offshore Thursday, April 29, 2010 in Gulfport, Miss. Several hundred yards of boom line has been set up on the north side of the island to try and contain the oncoming oil spill. Crews are placing the boom in different areas on Coast waterways to help protect against an approaching oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico. (AP Photo/The Sun Herald, William Colgin)
U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies respond to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig fire in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20th, 2010. Original here. (Otto Candies/US Coast Guard Press / CC BY) #
A spreading plume of smoke (lower right) from the burning Deepwater Horizon oil rig is visible in this image of Louisiana's Gulf Coast, captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on April 21. The distance from the rig to the shore is approximately 80 km (50 mi). (NASA Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen/University of Wisconsin SSEC)#
A Hurricane Katrina-damaged car still sits half-submerged near cypress trees in Venice, Louisiana on Thursday, April 29, 2010. A region still recovering from the 2005 hurricane season is bracing for a growing oil spill that resulted from last week's explosion and collapse of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico near the coast of Louisiana. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) #
Louisiana fishers sign forms offering their fishing boats and equipment to aid in protecting the coastal wetlands as they gather at the St. Bernard Parish Council Chambers in Chalmette, Louisiana Thursday, April 29, 2010. They met in an emergency meeting Thursday to see how they can use their resources to help fight the oil spill spewing from from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster that is threatening the Louisiana and Gulf Coast coastlines and the estuaries. (AP Photo/The Times Picayune, Ted Jackson) #
Captain Michael Nguyen stands near his fishing boat in Venice, Louisiana, Thursday, April 29, 2010. Local fishermen are worried about how their industry will withstand a growing oil spill that resulted from last week's explosion and collapse of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico near the coast of Louisiana. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) #
Birds fly above and sit on a shoal surrounded by oil booms on Breton Sound Island on the southern most tip of the Chandeleur Islands in the Gulf of Mexico south of Louisiana where oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead continues to spread on April 29, 2010. (AP Photo/Greenpeace, Sean Gardner) #
The growing oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico is captured in this image from NASA's (MODIS) instrument aboard the Terra satellite. This natural-color image acquired April 29, 2010 shows a twisting patch of oil nearly 125 km (78 mi) wide. (NASA Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen/University of Wisconsin SSEC) #
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