Photo gallery: Efforts resume to contain massive Gulf oil spill

With a strong storm system moving away to the east, the U.S. Coast Guard and crews from BP Exploration are expected to resume cleanup efforts Sunday at the site of a sunken oil platform.

Robotic cameras have spotted at least one large leak from what is left of an undersea drilling pipe. The line was ripped from the Deepwater Horizon platform as it capsized and sank Friday. A search for 11 missing crew members was called off on Saturday.

Coast Guard officials sounded a cautiously optimistic note immediately after the sinking of rig, minimizing the potential of a serious environmental disaster. But yesterday’s discovery is “game changing,” according to Rear Adm. Mary E. Landry, whose district is in charge of recovery operations.

Though 40 miles off the Louisiana coastline, the spill now covers a 400 square mile area near some of the United States’ most sensitive marine environments. Engineers estimate that about 1,000 barrels of oil per day are escaping from the ruptured line. That’s the equivalent of about 42,000 U.S. gallons.

The oil platform — lying on the seabed about a quarter mile from the leak — was thought to have contained up to 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel at the time of its sinking.

Cleanup was hampered Saturday by high winds and rough seas. Recovery crews were still able to dump almost 2,000 of chemical dispersant on the growing slick. Meteorologists expect conditions to improve today.

Image credits: U.S. Coast Guard .