Piece of oil rig washes up on Florida beach _ 190 miles from scene of disaster

Piece of oil rig washes up on Florida beach

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. — A piece of wreckage from the deepsea rig that exploded in April has washed up on a beach in Florida about 190 miles from the site of the disaster.

Bay County Sheriff Deputy Ray Maulbeck was working beach patrol Saturday morning when he came upon the stainless steel tank that had some oil oozing from it, along with barnacles and sea growth attached to it. The Coast Guard and state environmental officials were called in to investigate, and they took the piece away.

Maulbeck says the part had markings that identified it as having come from the Deepwater Horizon rig.

(This version CORRECTS that wreckage was found Saturday not Sunday.)