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ON THE GULF OF MEXICO (AP) — A 100-ton concrete-and-steel box plunged toward a blown-out well at the bottom of the sea Friday in a first-of-its-kind attempt to stop most of the gushing crude fouling the Gulf of Mexico.
The quest took on added urgency as oil reached several barrier islands off the Louisiana coast, many of them fragile animal habitats. Several birds were spotted diving into the oily, pinkish-brown water, and dead jellyfish washed up on the uninhabited islands.
Meanwhile, a radar image showed that oil was extending west to fishing areas around the Mississippi Delta. The image, taken Wednesday night by a Canadian satellite, showed an extension resembling a finger reaching out from the main patch, imaging expert Hans Graber of the University of Miami said Friday.
The main oil slick has been shifting to the northwest, encroaching on Chandeleur Sound, which lies between the delicate Chandeleur Islands and Mississippi Delta wetlands, he said.
Douglas Peake, the first mate of the supply boat that brought the box to the site of the leak, confirmed he had received a radio transmission from the nearby vessel lowering the device that it would be in position over the well soon.
The transmission said undersea robots were placing buoys around the main oil leak to act as markers to help line up the 40-foot-tall (12-meter-tall) box.
A crane had lowered the box about 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) underwater before dawn Friday, with another 1,000 feet (300 meters) to go, Coast Guard Petty Officer Shawn Eggert said.
Once the contraption gets to the seafloor, underwater robots will secure it over the main leak at the bottom, a process that will take hours. If the delicate procedure works, the device could be collecting as much as 85 percent of the oil spewing into the Gulf and funneling it up to a tanker by Sunday. But it’s never been tried so far below the surface, where the water pressure is enough to crush a submarine.
“We haven’t done this before,” said BP spokesman David Nicholas. “It’s very complex and we can’t guarantee it.”
Oil giant BP PLC is in charge of cleaning up the mess in the Gulf. It was leasing the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon when it exploded 50 miles (80 kilometers) offshore April 20, killing 11 workers and blowing open the well. An estimated 200,000 gallons (757,000 liters) a day have been spewing in the nation’s biggest oil spill since the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska in 1989.
The containment box will not solve the problem altogether. Crews are still drilling a relief well and working on other methods to stop the leaks.
“It’s all over the place. We hope to get it cleaned up before it moves up the west side of the river,” said Dustin Chauvin, a 20-year-old shrimp boat captain from Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. “That’s our whole fishing ground. That’s our livelihood.”
The crew of the semi-submersible drilling vessel Helix Q4000 waited hours longer that expected to hoist the contraption from the deck of the Joe Griffin supply boat because dangerous fumes rose from the oily water. Joe Griffin Capt. Demi Shaffer told an Associated Press reporter aboard his boat the fear was that a spark caused by the scrape of metal on metal could cause a fire. Crew members wore respirators because of the fumes.
But the crane lifted the containment box from the deck and into the Gulf after 10 p.m. CDT (0300 GMT), dark oil clinging to its white sides as it entered the water and disappeared below the surface.
The technology has been used a few times in shallow waters, but never at such extreme depths.
The box must be accurately positioned over the well, or it could damage the leaking pipe and make the problem worse.
BP spokesman Doug Suttles said he is not concerned about that happening. Underwater robots have been clearing pieces of pipe and other debris near where the box will be placed to avoid complications.
“We do not believe it could make things worse,” he said.
Other risks include ice clogs in the pipes — a problem that crews will try to prevent by continuously pumping in warm water and methanol — and the danger of explosion when separating the mix of oil, gas and water that is brought to the surface.
“I’m worried about every part, as you can imagine,” said David Clarkson, BP vice president of engineering projects.
If the box works, a second one now being built may be used to deal with a second, smaller leak from the sea floor.
Meanwhile, a huge oil slick is floating in the Gulf, and residents of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida are anxiously waiting to learn when it might come ashore.
Associated Press writers Ray Henry, Cain Burdeau, Holbrook Mohr and Vicki Smith in Louisiana, Brian Skoloff in Mississippi, Malcom Ritter in New York and Curt Anderson in Miami contributed to this story.
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