Dozens of people were evacuated from an oil rig in the North Sea after a ship carrying radioactive concrete waste caught fire and began drifting towards it.
The MV Parida cargo vessel was carrying cemented radioactive waste when a fire started in one of the funnels.
Although the fire was extinguished, more than 50 workers on the Beatrice platform were air lifted as a precautionary measure.
The cargo vessel was then towed to a ‘secure pier’ at the Cromarty Firth port.
MV Parida’s 15 crew remained on-board and were not harmed during the fire.
The cargo was also undamaged by the fire, reports BBC.
The radioactive waste was sent from Beligum in 1990s to an experimental nuclear facility Dounreay, Caithness, for reprocessing.
The vessel was carrying the radioactive waste back to Antwerp in Belgium when it caught fire.
According to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the vessel was carrying two containers, each containing three 500l drums of waste.
The Scottish government had said that it was "closely monitoring" the incident.
NDA had termed it as a "marine incident and not a nuclear incident".
The ship will now undergo repairs, following which it will continue its journey to Antwerp.
The oil rig is owned by Ithaca Energy.
.gif)
