More than a dozen men evacuated after blaze at gas storage facility

Unsafe: Firefighters evacuated the oil rig.John Wright

More than a dozen men had to be evacuated from an oil rig in the Cromarty Firth on Saturday night after a fire in a cage containing gas cylinders.

Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service units from Tain and Invergordon were dispatched to the Nigg Energy Park after a fire was seen coming from a cage containing 50-litre gas cylinders at around 9pm.

The rig, one of a number which anchor in the deep harbour for maintenance, had to be abandoned because firefighters believed the men's lives would be at risk if the cylinders exploded.

A 200m exclusion zone was placed around the energy park overnight and should remain in force until early afternoon on Sunday.

Having extinguished the blaze, fire service personnel began cooling down the cylinders.

The Nigg fabrication plant was once a major facility for the North Sea oil and gas industry with the largest dry dock in Europe, but it has largely lain dormant for the past 10 years.

It was purchased in October last year by Global Energy Group and rebranded as Nigg Energy Park, with plans to transform into a multi-use facility serving a range of energy sectors, including oil & gas and renewables.

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