More than 200 million gallons of contaminated waste water from a fertiliser plant leaked into one of Florida's main underground sources of drinking water after a massive sinkhole opened up beneath a storage pond.

It may take investigators days to untangle a grisly murder scene at a southern Alabama home where five adults, including one pregnant female, were found murdered, authorities said.

BP engineers in the Gulf of Mexico said they will leave the leaky cap fixed to its well head closed as key ships stationed over the site were ordered to evacuate today as Tropical Storm Bonnie loomed.