Investigators probing the seabird pollution disaster have identified a possible seven ships responsible for the deadly chemical leak, it has emerged.
More than 3,000 guillemots, razorbills and other rare birds have washed up along Dorset, Devon and Cornwall coated in a glue-like lubricant, polyisobutylene (PIB).
The substance, typically added to engine oils, first wiped out hundreds of birds in February but the source was never identified.
Officials at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency are hunting the boat responsible for leaking it into the sea - which prompted Britain's worst marine disaster for decades.
The MCA has now narrowed its search for the source of the deadly leak to seven possible vessels.
Katie Ware, UK representative to the International Maritime Organisation, said: "The MCA counter-pollution team has identified an area and a time-slot when we think that this discharge was made.
"We have identified a possible 62 ships that transited the area at that time and we've managed to narrow the number down to a possible seven ships which could have caused the discharge."
Dead and ailing birds started appearing earlier this year prompting demands for a ban on discharges of PIB, which can currently be released legally under certain conditions.
The MCA says it will prosecute the boat responsible if the release turns out to have been unlawful.
Wildlife agencies say the toll of dead birds from both spills has reached 2,400, with 500 more receiving urgent medical care.
The grim figure tops the 1,900 contaminated or killed following the beaching of the ship MSC Napoli off the Devon coast in 2007.
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