Island, it was determined yesterday.

Meawhile, valves on the Esso-Belco pipeline were turned back on after the rest of the steel pipe was pressure-tested for any further weaknesses.

"Hopefully nothing else goes,'' Environment Ministry permanent secretary Dr.

James Burnett Herkes said, adding containment booms would be kept in the area until all the oil was mopped up or dissipated.

A construction crew had dug up most of the Coney Island bridge to expose the concrete-encased Esso-Belco oil pipeline.

They found a minute hole on Wednesday afternoon, but not thinking it was the source of the oil spill, kept on digging.

"We saw a small pin-hole about one sixteenth of an inch but we couldn't convince ourselves that it was the source that's why we went on digging,'' Esso Bermuda general manager Mr. Keith Hollis said.

Hundreds of gallons of oil leaked out on Tuesday into the waters off Coney Island forming two large pools of soupy black oil either side of the bridge.

Fisheries officers on their way to work noticed the spill early on Wednesday morning.

Mr. Hollis said corrosion had caused the rupture. An Exxon pipeline corrosion expert was being flown in to advise Esso on ensuring another spill did not occur, he said.

Environmental engineer Dr. Tom Sleeter went to the area yesterday to assess the extent of the marine pollution which Esso and Government described as "minimal''.

A wind shift, which carried the oil out to sea where it broke up and evaporated, saved Bermuda from major marine pollution.

LEAK DISCOVERED -- A repair job gets under way on the Esso-Belco oil pipeline yesterday. Esso, with the help of D&J Construction, finally found the source of Wednesday's oil spill off Coney Island -- a pinhead hole.