Dozens of ships in the Gulf¹ of Mexico have been ordered to leave the site of the BP oil spill by the US government as Tropical Storm Bonnie gathers pace.

美国政府下令，墨西哥湾海域英国石油漏油处的几十只船只离开该海域，因为热带风暴邦妮即将到来。

Incident commander Admiral Thad Allen said the well would remain capped while ships evacuated²（疏散，撤离） the Gulf.

Drilling on a relief well has been suspended for up to two weeks.

Bonnie is the second named storm of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, with wind speeds of 40mph (65km/h), the US National Hurricane Center says.

Forecasters say the edge of the tropical storm could reach the spill area by early on Saturday.

It has already caused flooding in Haiti, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and is moving north-west over the Bahamas, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Adm Allen said the rig drilling the relief well - which will ultimately be used to block the leaking well permanently³（永久地） - and many other boats would leave the area.

"Some of the boats may be able to remain on site but we will err⁴ on the side of safety," Adm Allen said in a statement.

"While these actions may delay the effort to kill the well for several days, the safety of individuals at the well site is our highest concern."

He added that vessels⁵ were being positioned in a way that would allow crews "to promptly⁶ re-start oil mitigation（减轻，缓和） efforts as soon as the storm passes".

A "packer" - a plug used during storms - has been placed in the relief well to stabilise it while workers leave the site.

Earlier on Thursday, Adm Allen said increasing confidence in the security of a new cap placed on the leaking well had convinced scientists it would be safe to leave the capped well unmonitored for several days.

'Encouraged' by results

The damaged well has been closed off since last Thursday while an integrity test is carried out to see if there are weaknesses in the well or ruptures⁷（破裂） in the sea bed.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said US Energy Secretary Steven Chu and other experts had been "encouraged" by the results of the test so far.

Senior BP official Doug Suttles said a week with no new leakage⁸（泄露） had improved the situation on the surface, with skimmers（撇油器） picking up vastly reduced quantities of oil.

Skimming has gone from 25,000 barrels of oil a day before the cap was put on to just 56 barrels on Wednesday.

The government is to reopen one-third of the closed Gulf fishing areas, as oil has not been observed for 30 days.

Earlier, US President Barack Obama announced he would take his family on holiday to Florida's Gulf Coast for the weekend of 14 August.