According to a Coast Guard official there is no crude oil is leaking from the oil rig which exploded and sunk off the coast of Louisiana this week, easing fears of an environmental disaster.

Rear Admiral Mary Landry said that “there is nothing emanating from the well-head.” She also said the Coast Guard is “holding out hope” of finding the missing 11 oil rig workers alive. Landry said that a 2-mile-by-8-mile slick visible on the surface is residual oil from the explosion and not from the well, a finding reached by analyzing data from remotely-operated underwater vehicles and sonar. The Coast Guard has positioned vessels and other resources to tackle a spill should one arise.

Six skimmer vessels are on site to suck up an estimated 200 gallons of oil remaining in the slick, which has not drifted far from the sunken rig about 45 miles southeast of the Mississippi River’s mouth, a Coast Guard spokeswoman said.

About 180 gallons of oil and water had been skimmed as of 11 a.m. Friday.

A helicopter, a cutter and an airplane were being used in the search and rescue efforts.