With a new leak discovered beneath the site of the deadly offshore drilling rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico last week, the US Coast Guard said on Wednesday that the oil spill was five-fold more than what had earlier been estimated. Going by a media briefing by the U. S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry, the rig's owner - the London-based BP Plc - has informed that nearly 5,000 barrels of oil per day is now estimated to be leaking; as against the earlier estimates of 1,000 barrels per day leaks.

Noting that the upgraded oil spill estimates have come forth after aerial surveys of the oil's trajectory by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, Landry said: "BP has just briefed me of a new location of an additional breach in the riser of the deep underwater well. We have urged BP to leverage additional assets."

Landry also said that President Obama had been apprised about the situation, and the services of the Department of Defense will be sought to help contain the oil spill.

Meanwhile, BP spokesman Doug Suttles said the location of the newly-discovered leak - which will likely strike the Louisiana coast before the end of this week - was just above a blowout preventer that the company has been trying to set in motion since Sunday, in an attempt to shut off the well.