First Arrest Made In BP Oil Leak

(CNN) The first criminal charges have been filed in connection with the BP Gulf oil disaster two years ago, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Former BP engineer Kurt Mix was arrested in Texas on charges of intentionally destroying evidence requested by authorities, officials said.

An estimated 4.9 million barrels (206 million gallons) of crude poured into the Gulf of Mexico after the April 2010 explosion that sank the drill rig Deepwater Horizon and killed 11 men aboard.

Oil spewed into the sea for nearly three months before a cap was placed on the BP-owned Macondo well, nearly a mile beneath the surface.

(Copyright CNN)