Two North Sea workers were airlifted to hospital after a fire involving oil broke out on Enquest’s Heather Alpha platform.
Shetland Coastguard confirmed the two casualties were flown to Gilbert Bain Hospital in Lerwick at about 11am on Monday.
Operator EnQuest confirmed last night that “a small fire” had broken out on the Heather Alpha, which lies about 245 miles north-east of Aberdeen.
Both workers are understood to be safe following an incident involving burning oil.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said they were “investigating”.
A spokesman for EnQuest said: “The fire was quickly extinguished and the platform made safe.
“Both injured persons were released from hospital yesterday having been airlifted onshore for medical assessment.
“The platform, which was already shut-down for pre-planned maintenance reasons, and remains shut-down, had 128 personnel onboard, all of whom were accounted for.
“EnQuest is liaising with all relevant authorities as part of its response to the incident, and a detailed investigation into the cause is being undertaken.”
The incident on the Heather Alpha is the second North Sea fire this week.
On Monday, a “small fire” also broke out on the Taqa-operated Tern Alpha installation, 105 miles north-east of Shetland, at around 2pm.
A crew member on board sustained an arm injury in the incident and was also airlifted to the Gilbert Bain hospital.
A spokesman for HSE said last night that it “been made aware of the incident” on Heather Alpha and that the regulator was “investigating the circumstances”.
Last year, the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) served EnQuest with an improvement notice following an emergency shutdown was initiated after the presence of the gas was discovered by three gas detectors.
HSE said gas from an unlit flare accumulated on the EnQuest’s Heather Alpha platform.
An HSE inspector claimed workers on Heather Alpha were exposed to a “risk of fire and explosion” and accused EnQuest of not taking sufficient preventative measures.
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