GULF OIL SPILL TIMELINE
APRIL 20, 2010: An explosion rips apart British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon oil rig on which about 126 workers were aboard, of whom up to 15 were initially reported missing. The rig is located about 45 miles southeast of the Louisiana shoreline.
APRIL 21: Rescue efforts continue as figures are revised. Authorities now say 11 workers missing and 17 other injured in the blast.
APRIL 22: Fire on the rig is extinguished but the $560-million structure sinks soon afterward and authorities report a five-mile long oil slick.
APRIL 23: Coast Guard announces it is ending its search for the missing workers because they are all presumed dead.
APRIL 25: Coast Guard announces that there two leaks from the well leaking at least 1,000 barrels of crude oil daily. The estimate is based on video from remote underwater cameras. Later there are found to be three leaks.
APRIL 27: Coast Guard announces it may set leaking oil on fie to slow the spread and the U.S. Departments of Interior and Homeland Security announce there will be a joint investigation of the incident.
APRIL 28: Initial optimistic estimates of controlling the spill are dashed when the Coast Guard announces the spill is five times greater than previously estimated.
APRIL 29: The oil slick reaches the approaches of the Mississippi Delta and President Obama pledges to use "every single available resource" to contain the spill.
APRIL 30: British Petroleum Chairman Tony Hayward says the company takes full responsibility for the spill and will pay all "legitimate claims" and the cost of cleaning up the spill.
MAY 2: President Obama visits the Gulf Coast to inspect the damage and cleanup efforts and the area is closed to fishing.
MAY 3: British Petroleum struggled to attempt to install a shutoff valve on the leaks as the slick drifts toward the shorelines of Alabama and Florid.
MAY 5: British Petroleum reports it has plugged one of the leaks and is bringing a huge containment dome to the site in an attempt to seal another leak and siphon off leaking oil.
MAY 6: The first known patch of oil to hit the Louisiana barrier islands is found by the Coast Guard and workers begin lowering the containment dome at the site.
