Tar balls found on a Texas beach were confirmed as the first evidence that gushing crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon well had reached all the Gulf states.

OIL from a blown-out well is forming huge underwater plumes as much as 16km long below the visible slick in the Gulf of Mexico, scientists said as BP wrestled for a third day with its latest contraption for slowing the nearly month-old gusher.

UNDERSEA robots tried to thread a small tube into the jagged pipe that is pouring oil into the Gulf of Mexico yesterday in BP’s latest attempt to cut down on the spill from a blown-out well that has pumped out more than four million gallons of crude.

A sense of foreboding enveloped the American coastline from Louisiana to Florida today as the massive BP oil slick spewing from a ruptured well kept growing.