A new oil leak was discovered at the site of the wrecked drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, with an estimated five times more oil spilling into the water every day than previously thought, the US Coastguard said today.

The US Coastguard said one of its planes collided with a military helicopter off the Southern California coast early today.

Dozens of cargo ships, petrochemical tankers and smaller vessels were stacked up near a closed stretch of the Mississippi River today, after a collision between a barge and tanker spilled more than 400,000 gallons of fuel oil into the busy shipping waterway.

Two whales that took a wrong turn and swam 90 miles inland to California’s capital are heading back towards the Pacific Ocean today, according to the US Coastguard.

TWO Irish rowers who cheated death after being capsized mid-Atlantic described how a massive wave pulverised their boat to “matchsticks.”

Two Irish sportsmen have been rescued from a liferaft after their boat capsized midway through the Atlantic Rowing Race yesterday.

THE US coastguard was last night coordinating attempts to reach the two Irishmen competing in an Atlantic rowing race who were reported to have sent out distress signals.

US Coastguard chiefs say an oil and fuel spill from a freighter that broke in two when it ran aground off Alaska is probably thousands of gallons less than they feared.

More than 37 tons of cocaine, with an estimated street value of €2bn were confiscated during five seizures at sea this autumn, the US Coastguard said.

CUSTOMS officers are to have their armoury bolstered in the battle against the drugs trade with the addition of a €1.6 million vessel which will be used to patrol the coast.

Tropical Storm Bill pounded the Gulf Coast today, spinning off a tornado that injured four people and left nearly 200,000 homes and businesses without power.

An explosion and fire in the boiler room of a cruise ship docked in Florida killed at least three crew members and injured 20 others, eight critically.

Armed hijackers seized a ferry off Cuba’s coast and threatened to toss passengers overboard if they cannot go to the United States, sparking a negotiating drama on the high seas.

A FATHER and son have denied manslaughter charges arising from the death of an Irish student who drowned after falling from their cruise boat in the US.

US officials received a warning in 1995 that Islamic militants were plotting to attack an American nuclear site and targets in Britain - but did not pass on the information to the agency overseeing nuclear facilities or to the plants themselves, it has emerged.

A migrant-smuggling boat on a night run from Cuba to the US capsized in rough seas, dumping more than two dozen people in the water, the US Coastguard said.

More than 150,000 gallons of diesel oil has escaped from an Ecuadorean tanker washed up on one of the Galapagos Islands.