WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- The blowout preventer that triggered the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been brought to the surface and placed on a vessel, officials said.
BP said the blowout preventer "was taken into custody by the U.S. Department of Justice as evidence in its ongoing investigation into the incident," CNN reported Sunday.
Retired U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, overseeing the government's response to the disaster, said the piece of equipment "is considered evidentiary material."
The blowout preventer, standing 50 feet tall and weighing 300 tons, was lifted to the surface Saturday night. It was replaced with a new one Friday.
A Deepwater Horizon rig, leased by BP, exploded April 20, killing 11 workers, then sinking two days later and spewing millions of barrels of oil into the gulf.
On Saturday, Allen announced the BP well now "does not constitute a threat to the Gulf of Mexico."
Once the new blowout preventer is successfully tested, BP will finish drilling the remaining feet of a relief well to intercept the damaged well, which BP said should occur in mid-September, depending on the weather.
The company then will do a "bottom kill," filling the well from the bottom with mud and cement, believed the only way to permanently seal the well.
