Oil spill reaches US Coastine

Friday 30 April 10

The US Coast Guard is investigating reports that oil has started washing ashore from a leaking offshore oil pipline.

Up to 5,000 barrels of oil a day are thought to be spilling into the water after last week's explosion on a BP-owned oil rig, which then sank.

Eleven workers are still missing, presumed dead, after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on 20 April.

President Barack Obama has pledged "every single available resource" to help deal with the oild spill.

The US navy has been deployed to help avert a looming environmental disaster.

The US Coast Guard said it had sent investigators to confirm whether crude oil had begun to wash up on parts of the Louisiana shoreline.

David Kennedy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told the Associated Press news agency that the clean-up efforts could be "mind-boggling".

The US government has designated the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as an "incident of national significance" which allows the government to draw on resources from across the country.