NEW ORLEANS – Independent scientists and government officials say there’s a disaster we can’t see in the Gulf of Mexico’s mysterious depths, the ruin of a world inhabited by enormous sperm whales and tiny, invisible plankton.

Researchers have said they have found at least two massive underwater plumes of what appears to be oil, each hundreds of feet deep and stretching for miles. Yet the chief executive of BP PLC — which has for weeks downplayed everything from the amount of oil spewing into the Gulf to the environmental impact — said there is “no evidence” that huge amounts of oil are suspended undersea.

BP CEO Tony Hayward said the oil naturally gravitates to the surface — and any oil below was just making its way up. However, researchers say the disaster in waters where light doesn’t shine through could ripple across the food chain.

“Every fish and invertebrate contacting the oil is probably dying. I have no doubt about that,” said Prosanta Chakrabarty, a Louisiana State University fish biologist.

On the surface, a 24-hour camera fixed on the spewing, blown-out well and the images of dead, oil-soaked birds have been evidence of the calamity. At least 20 million gallons of oil and possibly 43 million gallons have spilled since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and sank in April.

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LAHORE, Pakistan (AFP) –
Gunmen stormed a Pakistani hospital where victims of attacks on Ahmadi mosques were being treated late Monday, killing at least four people in a shootout with security forces, police said.

Disguised in police uniforms, they targeted the Jinnah Hospital in the eastern city of Lahore, where at least 30 victims and one of the alleged attackers in Friday’s suicide, gun and grenade attack on the minority sect were being treated.

“They started indiscriminate firing outside the emergency ward and intensive care unit,” Doctor Javed Akram told reporters.

Police said at least four people — three policemen and a woman — were killed after four gunmen rampaged into the hospital from the back.

Akram, who had initially put the death toll at 12, said that at least 30 wounded Ahmadis had been admitted to the hospital and that one of the alleged attackers of Friday’s devastating attacks was being treated in a private room.

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