US salvage team boards grounded Alaska oil rig

LOS ANGELES: A six-member salvage team was lowered Wednesday onto an oil rig that ran aground in Alaska to assess options as the US Coast Guard vowed to prevent any ecological threat, officials said.

The team spent three hours on board the oil giant Shell's Kulluk mobile drilling unit after an improvement in weather conditions, which had prevented any such operation since the rig's grounding on New Year's Eve.