Deepwater Horizon sinks

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) (SIX: RIGN) reported today that its semisubmersible drilling rig Deepwater Horizon sank late in the morning, today.

"The combined response team was not able to stem the flow of hydrocarbons prior to the rig sinking, and we are working closely with BP Exploration & Production, Inc. and the U.S. Coast Guard to determine the impact from the sinking of the rig and the plans going forward. The U.S. Coast Guard has plans in place to mitigate any environmental impact from this situation," said the statement.

Though the Coast Guard search for 11 missing crew members continued, media reports quoted TransOcean VP Adrian Rose as saying: "Based upon reports from our crew members we've met as they came in last night, at the time of the incident, they believe that they may have been aboard the rig, not able to evacuate,"

Major efforts are being made to mitigate pollution with five oil recovery vessels at the scene and more on the way. Skimming is underway and a million feet of boom is expected to be on the water by Friday. Below the water, attempts continued to halt the flow of oil and gas from the well through the use of a remotely operated vehicle to activate the sub-sea, blowout preventer.

Meantime a CNN viewer submitted raw video of efforts to cool the fire on the rig before it collapsed into the water.