More than 150 containers - some with toxic chemicals - have been washed into the sea from a cargo ship beached off the south west coast of Britain sparking a major pollution scare.
UK coastguards spent the night on alert after severe gales rocked the MSC Napoli which ran aground off the Devon coast yesterday.
Today an oil slick stretching several miles was seen near the cargo ship which was carrying 2,400 containers.
A spokesman for Britain's Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said 50 coastguards were out looking for the containers.
Two of the 40-foot containers are understood to contain potentially dangerous chemicals such as battery acid and perfume.
Other containers that are missing include one containing hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of BMW motorbikes, one full of car parts and two containing empty oak barrels.
The MCA spokesman said: "After discussions with Devon Police we are asking members of the public not to have a look because the containers washing around the ship increase the risk.
"We don't want anyone to approach the containers, if they see them just ring the coastguard."
The London registered ship was at the centre of a storm-lashed rescue operation in the English Channel on Thursday after it was disabled when the engine room flooded more than 40 miles from the Cornish coast.
All 26 crew of the Napoli were plucked to safety by rescue helicopters as they abandoned the ship in 40ft seas and 70mph winds.
After the rescue operation had finished the drifting vessel was secured and was being towed to Portland for a salvage operation but the MCA took the decision to beach it off the coast of Sidmouth following a "serious structural failure".
Gale force nine winds hampered attempts to secure the ship. The vessel is carrying 2,394 containers, only a small proportion of which are classed as hazardous, according to the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code.