Rig ship sinks off Scottish coast

The Viking Victor started taking in water as it was towed into port

A burnt-out oil industry support ship which caught fire off the north east coast of Scotland has sunk.

The Viking Victor was being towed into port at Invergordon on Saturday when it became clear it was taking in water.

It caught fire on Thursday after fire broke out in the engine room and its 12 crew had to be airlifted to safety.

The ship has 60-tons of marine diesel on board and is now in waters off Buckie. The coastguard said there is no sign of any pollution from the vessel.

Pollution concerns

The decision was taken to move the 44-metre ship away from sensitive ecological and environmental areas after its stern started to fill with water on Saturday.

Aberdeen Coastguard said the vessel sank just after 2100 BST in 86m of open water 10 miles off Findochty, near Buckie, Morayshire.

An aircraft has been closely monitoring the sea around the wreck for fuel since it sank.

A spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said: "The vessel's progress was monitored throughout by an aerial surveillance aircraft from the MCA.

"Aberdeen Coastguard has informed the UK Hydrographer and Northern Lighthouse Board of the site of the sinking."

Rescue operation

The Montrose-registered standby ship caught fire 20 miles off the coast as it was making its way from Aberdeen to an oil rig.

A blaze broke out in the engine room but its firefighting systems were unable to douse the flames.

The Viking Victor crew were winched to safety by an RAF helicopter

After an SOS call, all its crew were winched to safety by a Sea King helicopter from RAF Lossiemouth and taken to hospital. None were seriously injured.

The Viking Victor was then tracked by another vessel, the Highland Endurance, until the flames went out and it was taken under tow on Friday.

The ship is owned by Bue Viking Ltd in Aberdeen.