Gulf of Mexico: A boat carrying a 100-ton concrete-and-steel contraption designed to siphon off the oil fouling the Gulf of Mexico has arrived at the spot in the sea where a blown-out well is spewing hundreds of thousands of gallons a day.
Another boat with a crane plans to start lowering the box to the seafloor later in the day.
Engineers hope it will be the best short-term solution to controlling the leak that has only worsened since it began two weeks ago.
While people anxiously wait for the mess to wash up along the coast, globules of oil are already falling to the bottom of the sea, where they threaten virtually every link in the ocean food chain, from plankton to fish that are on dinner tables everywhere.
