In Photos: Haunting images of the gulf oil disaster

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In Photos: Haunting images of the gulf oil disaster
Mon May 24, 8:24 pm ET

It’s been more than a month since an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed 11 people and blew out an undersea well that continues to gush oil into the Gulf of Mexico. In the following weeks, there have been attempts to contain and control the scope of the environmental damage.

But so far none have been successful. Over the weekend, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal announced he intended to proceed with plans to construct sand booms to protect his state's shoreline — without waiting for federal approval. Meanwhile, engineers for BP are working feverishly to prepare for their "top kill" maneuver, hoping an injection of heavy mud will stop the leak.

Dead sharks and dolphins are washing ashore. Crabs, turtles and birds are being found soaked in oil as the slick sloshes into Louisiana’s wetlands. South of New Orleans, chocolate-like globs of oil have shut down the public beach.

Coast Guard officials say the spill’s impact now stretches 150 miles. Some scientists fear the spreading plumes will catch the ocean current to the Florida Keys and up to the eastern seaboard.

Photographers' images, some of them chillingly beautiful, can only begin to hint at the enormity of the disaster.




Shrimp boats equipped with booms collect oil in Chandeleur Sound, La., on May 5. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)




Oil moves past an oil rig, top right, in Chandeleur Sound on May 5. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)




An oil-soaked bird struggles against the side of an Iron Horse supply vessel at the site of the oil spill off Louisiana on May 9. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)




A Portuguese man-of-war is seen from under the oily water in Chandeleur Sound on May 6. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)




A dead jellyfish floats amid oil May 6 in the Gulf of Mexico, southwest of the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River on the coast of Louisiana. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)




A Coast Guard plane flies over the Development Driller III oil drilling platform, which was drilling a relief well May 12 at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)




Risers, the outer casings of oil drill pipes, are seen on the deck of the service vessel Joe Griffin as it prepares to head to Port Fourchon, La., on May 11. (Pool Photo/Gerald Herbert)




An aerial view of the northern Chandeleur barrier islands, 20 miles from the main Louisiana coastline, shows sheens of oil reaching land May 6. (AP Photo/David Quinn)




A pod of bottlenose dolphins swims in the oily water of Chandeleur Sound on May 6. Five days later, six dead dolphins were found along the Gulf Coast. Officials were investigating oil's role in the deaths. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)




An oil-stained cattle egret is seen on the deck of the Joe Griffin supply vessel May 9. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)




Oil swirls in the Gulf of Mexico currents May 6. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)




Contractors unload oil booms to protect marshlands May 13 in Hopedale, La. (John Moore/Getty Images)




Pelicans fly past a nest of eggs apparently stained with oil on a Louisiana island May 22. The island is home to hundreds of brown pelican nests as well as terns, gulls and roseated spoonbills. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)




A glob of oil thought to be from the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico sits on a reed on a beach in Southwest Pass, La., on May 15. (Reuters/Lee Celano)




A Greenpeace worker collects samples of oil May 19 that washed up along the mouth of the Mississippi River near Venice, La. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)




An oil-covered dragonfly, stuck to marsh grass, tries to clean itself May 18 in Garden Island Bay near Venice. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)




Birds fly over oil on the water April 29 near Breton Sound Island, on the southernmost tip of the Chandeleur Islands. (Reuters/Sean Gardner/Greenpeace/Handout)