11 US oil rig workers are missing, and 17 are injured after an explosion at a Transocean drilling rig off the Louisiana coast.

The US Coast Guard has deployed helicopters, planes and vessels to search for the missing. An estimate 126 people were aboard the Deepwater Horizon Rig at the time of the explosion.

The rig is about 70 kilometers southeast of Venice, Louisiana. The Coast Guard said it will be conducting an investigation into the cause of the explosion with BP and the U.S. Minerals Management Service.

Calm seas Tuesday helped efforts to fight the massive oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil is still spewing from the ocean floor at an estimated rate of more than 5 thousand barrels a day.

The latest satellite image found oil covering more than 5 thousand square kilometers of the sea. So far, only sheen has reached some coastal waters in the southeastern United States, allowing crews and volunteers time to lay boom in front of shorelines.

Wildlife experts are also assessing the impact of a massive oil slick that is moving closer to the Louisiana coast. Let's go to a bird sanctuary to see some of the damage, and the prevention measures that have been put in place.