The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico became dramatically worse on Wednesday after a robotic submarine accidentally crashed into the containment device that had been siphoning off gushing oil. Taking government estimates, the uncapped gusher could again be spewing up to 2.52 million gallons of oil a day. National Incident Commander Thad Allen announced the accident at a news conference.

Adm. Thad Allen: “We had an incident earlier today, where they noticed that there was some kind of a gas rising through the vent that carries the warm water down that prohibits hydrates from forming. Out of abundance of caution, the Discover Enterprise removed the containment cap from the riser pipe and moved away, until they could assess the condition. They’ve indicated that the problem was a remotely operated vehicle that had been around the lower marine riser package had bumped into one of those vents that allows the excess oil to come out.”