No evidence of oil on US shores

No evidence of oil impact has been seen on US shores after a giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico raised concerns over an ecological disaster, a coast guard says.

After days of suspension due to bad weather, a new overflight on Monday confirmed that there has been no oil on US land yet.

On Tuesday night, US oil platform Deepwater Horizon was burnt after a massive explosion and sunk into the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers.

More than one hundred workers escaped from the incident.

"Based on our overflights, there has been no confirmed oil on land yet," said coast guard spokesman Curtis Thomas.

"Bad weather prevented overflights and dispersant activities on May 2. Planning is currently under way to open a second airbase in Florida for dispersant activities."

At the time of the explosion, there were 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel onboard the platform, which had been drilling 8,000 barrels a day.

Over 150,000 gallons of chemicals have been dropped from planes to stop the spread of the oil spill which is threatening US shores.

The White House has issued a statement in which President Barack Obama said the federal response to the disaster "was being treated as the number one priority."