Coast Guard: New Oil Leak In Gulf Of Mexico

Officials say 5,000 barrels a day estimated to be leaking

NEW ORLEANS - Five times more oil a day than previously believed is spewing into the Gulf of Mexico from a blown-out well of a sunken drilling rig, the Coast Guard said Wednesday, an estimate the oil company trying to contain the massive spill disputes.

A new leak was discovered in the pipes a mile below the ocean's surface. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration experts now estimate that 5,000 barrels a day of oil are spilling into the gulf. Officials had estimated the leak for days at 1,000 barrels a day.

The news came hours after crews tried a test burn on the massive spill to try to slow it from reaching the U.S. shoreline.

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