**A ship carrying a giant metal containment box has set off for the site where a sunken oil rig has been leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico.**Oil giant BP says it is hopeful the 100-tonne device will help to contain the oil and funnel it to a tanker.
The US is to carry out a controlled burn of some of the leaked oil to stop it from getting closer to the shore.
The spill was set off by an explosion that destroyed the Deepwater Horizon rig off Louisiana last month.
Eleven rig workers died in the explosion, and the ensuing oil leak has since been threatening several southern US states.
Complicated operation
Remote-controlled submarines will be used to lower the concrete and steel box over the site on Thursday, said BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward.
BP has never deployed such a structure at a depth of 5,000ft (1,500m) and difficulties may occur, he told the BBC.
The operation is expected to take more than two days. If successful, BP said it hoped to begin pumping oil to the surface early next week.
He gave no prediction as to when the oil leak would be stopped, or how much the clean-up operation will ultimately cost.
He denied his company had been slow to react to the disaster, saying BP had mobilised immediately to contain the threat, and adding that it was working with US authorities to contain the spill.
“It’s a military operation and we are thinking of it as a battle on three fronts: beneath the sea, in the sea, and on the shore,” said Mr Hayward.
He said efforts to protect the southern US coastline were going well, with 100 ships involved in an operation to skim oil from the sea’s surface - including 20 of the world’s largest skimming vessels.
Thousands of feet of boom were being used as a barrier to contain the slick and a small air force was deploying dispersants, he added.
Some 4,000 volunteers were being paid $10 an hour to help defend the beaches, he said.
A sheen of oil has already reached the shore in parts of Louisiana, but officials say coagulated crude oil is not expected to reach coastal areas until the end of the week.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said the oil slick was not expected to move much in the next several days.
Wildlife concerns
Earlier, BP said it had managed to seal the smallest of the three leaks spilling oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
Oil is still gushing into the sea at a rate of about 800,000 litres a day, but officials say working with only two leaks makes tackling the spill easier.
Favourable weather conditions have now allowed crews to begin burning off more of the oil where it is most heavily concentrated, AP said.
A burn was last tried on 28 April when thousands of litres of oil were successfully removed.
Concerns for the impact of the burn on wildlife in the area have been dismissed by the body co-ordinating the response to the spill.
BP has told members of a US congressional committee that up to 9.5m litres a day could spill if the leaks worsen.
How the oil has spread
Approximate oil locations 22 April - 6 May
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