BP begins new attempt to seal gushing oil well in Gulf

Gulf of Mexico (US), May 27 (ANI): BP went ahead on Wednesday afternoon with its most ambitious and potentially most consequential effort to plug the mile-deep gusher of oil that has been streaming into the Gulf of Mexico for more than a month.

The procedure, known as a top kill, was begun at 1 p.m. Central time, the company said.

The procedure involves pumping thousands of pounds of heavy fluids into a five-story stack of pipes in an effort to clog the well and stop the torrent of oil. BP officials said the method of containing spills had never been tried so far underwater, and that it could take days to determine whether it had succeeded. They cautioned there was no guarantee that the gambit would work.

Tony Hayward, chief executive office of BP said, it would be "a day or two before we can have certainty that it's worked."

On the other hand, failure could become apparent within minutes or hours, a technician involved in the procedure said. (ANI)