An oil worker has fallen to his death from a North Sea rig.

The incident happened at 11.20am on Thursday on the Brent Charlie oil rig which is 116 miles north-east of Lerwick, in the East Shetland Basin.

Grampian Police confirmed that the man involved was 37-years-old and not local to the area. It is believed he worked for BIS Salamis and that was working from ropes on the oil platform when he fell.

He was pulled from the water after the alarm was raised by work colleagues.

Aberdeen Coastguard said that a Norwegian search and rescue helicopter from another oil platform went to the scene.

A Shell spokeswoman said: "Shell UK Ltd can confirm that a man rescued from the North Sea this morning after falling overboard from the Brent Charlie platform subsequently died on board the standby vessel Ocean Spey.

"The man was recovered from the water after workmates raised the alarm. Workers on the Shell-operated platform were called to muster when the alarm was raised.

"All personnel have been accounted for and the relevant authorities have been notified."

A report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal in due course.