Alaskan Oil Spill

The Malaysian cargo ship Selendang Ayu drifts toward Unalaska Island near Unalaska, Alaska, in the Aleutian Island chain, Dec. 8, 2004, in this photo released by Unalaska Community Broadcasting. A Coast Guard cutter and three tug boats were unable to halt the 738-foot freighter's approach to shore, and the ship later ran aground and split apart.

The crew of The Malaysian cargo ship Selendang Ayu stand on the deck wearing life preservers, Dec. 8, 2004. A Coast Guard helicopter later crashed into the Bering Sea with 10 people aboard while attempting to rescue the freighter crew. Four of the 10, three Coast Guard personnel and one crew member, were picked up by another helicopter participating in the rescue, the Coast Guard said.

The wreckage of a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter is seen along the shore on the eastern part of Skan Bay near Unalaska, Alaska. Frustrated by furious winds, mountainous seas and a mere five-hour window of December daylight, rescuers searched for six people lost in the Bering Sea after the Coast Guard helicopter that had plucked them from the crippled freighter Selendang Ayu crashed in the darkness.

In this photo released by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the two halves of the Malaysian-owned freighter Selendang Ayu leak bunker fuel as it sits offshore in Skan Bay on Unalaska Island.

Selendang Ayu sits about 400-500 yards offshore in Skan Bay, on Unalaska Island near Unalaska, Alaska, Dec. 9, 2004, in this photo released by Unalaska Community Broadcasting.

Heavy bunker fuel from the Selendang Ayu washes up on the shores of Unalaska Island near Unalaska, Alaska, Dec. 9, 2004, in this photo released by Unalaska Community Broadcasting.

Leslie Pearson, from the Alaska Dept. of Environmental Conservation, left, and Bill Schoephester, from the environmental cleanup company Alaska Chadux Corp., look over a coastal resources map of Skan Bay during a Coast Guard briefing in Anchorage, Alaska, Dec. 11, 2004.

In this Coast Guard photo, Selendang Ayu crew members leave the Coast Guard cutter Alex Haley in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, Dec. 11, 2004. Six crew members from the ship were lost when a helicopter crashed after lifting them off the vessel before it wrecked; four other people were rescued. A search for the missing crew - five from India and one from the Philippines - was suspended Dec. 10.

The two halfs of Selendang Ayu are pounded by waves as it sits offshore of Skan Bay, Alaska.

Half of the Malaysian cargo ship Selendang Ayu is pounded by waves as it sits offshore at Skan Bay, on Unalaska Island near Unalaska, Alaska.

A Coast Guard Jayhawk helicopter hovers over Selendang Ayu as a salvage team inspects the damage caused when the freighter broke in two. According to the Coast Guard, three cargo holds containing soybeans and the stern fuel tank was breached. One hold appeared to be intact and the engine room flooded.