Coast Guard: Weather gives a window of opportunity

The &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/region/2002/06/17/30455.html ' target=_blank>Coast Guard suspended its search for six people lost for three days in the frigid Bering Sea after the crash of a rescue helicopter that had plucked them from a broken freighter.

Searchers covered 227 miles of coastline and 550 square miles of ocean before suspending the search Friday evening, said Rear Adm. James Olson, commander of the Coast Guard in &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/society/2003/03/14/44416.html ' target=_blank>Alaska.

"There is little hope that any survivor will be found," Olson said. The Coast Guard said the cause of the crash was still unknown, reports Houston Chronicle.

According to Reuters, about 150 people have been sent to an Aleutian island to try to clean up fuel oil streaming from a wrecked cargo ship, but harsh weather has kept most from the spill site, federal and stated officials say.

Authorities earlier said they had called off the search for six missing crew members, who were not wearing cold-water survival gear, and efforts were now concentrated on preventing environmental damage in a sensitive area important to marine mammals, sea birds and fish.