Massive oil spill spreads in Gulf of Mexico

Los Angeles Times photographers Carolyn Cole and Rick Loomis docum

ent the disaster.

U.S. Coast Guard members carry away a dead brown pelican found on Breton Island by a game warden with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who said that the bird had oil on its wings. The dead pelican was turned over the the U.S. Coast Guard as evidence. Breton Island is a part of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge. Some 40,000 birds are on Breton Island during nesting season. Layers of protective booms, both offshore and on, have been placed to protect the birds.

Greenpeace senior campaigner Lindsey Allen takes water samples along a 20-yard area of marsh where oil is thick in concentration near the south pass of the Mississippi River

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to spread despite BP's efforts to cap the well. A suction tube has been inserted into one of the broken pipes on the seafloor, and some oil is being captured and transferred to a surface ship. Meanwhile, a gas byproduct is burned on board the main ship

Troops position sandbags on the shores of Grand Isle, La., to prevent oil from reaching the wetlands. The oil slick is currently about 12 miles offshore.

The oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico is seen from a helicopter.(Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times / May 6, 2010)

Seen from a helicopter, oil swirls in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.(Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times / May 6, 2010)

Seen from a helicopter, oil swirls in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.(Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times / May 6, 2010)

Crews aboard ships in the gulf wait to lower a containment device to curtail the oil flow. Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times / May 6, 2010)

Dead jellyfish float in the waters off the Chandeleur Islands. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times / May 6, 2010)

Fisherman Mike LeBlanc surveys the oil spill half a mile from the Chandeleur Islands off Louisiana, where the slick had reached landfall. He said eight charter fishing groups had canceled their trips, but he says he understands. "I wouldn't want to come down here with this oil either."

Oil surrounds parts of Louisiana's Chandeleur Islands in the Gulf of Mexico.

Oil booms can be seen on portions of Ship Island in the Gulf of Mexico.

An oil sheen is apparent in the Gulf of Mexico about a quarter of a mile east of the Chandeleur Islands.

A boat makes its way along the edge of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico near the Chandeleur Islands..

Oil floats on the surface about 12 miles from the Louisiana marshes. Shrimp boat operators nearby tried to mop up as much as they could.

In Port Fourchon, La., Bud Parker and a crew work on the construction of a large dome meant to cap a leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. The dome weighs about 100 tons and will be dropped about 5,000 feet to the sea floor.

U.S. environmental workers in Pass Christian, Miss., clean up debris that was washed ashore by heavy storms. Some of the objects may have been contaminated by the oil spill in the gulf.

Kyle Currie, 14, and Olivia Martina, a zoologist, attempt to capture a northern gannet affected by the oil spill. The bird was taken from an island off Gulfport, Miss., back to the mainland by boat.

The Alabama National Guard erects barriers against a growing oil slick that could reach the state's shores.