TWO oilmen have been hailed as heroes after they risked their lives to save 150 people from a blaze.
William Grainger, from Ross-shire, and Adam Reid, from Aberdeen, battled flames in a kitchen fire which was growing out of control at the camp on the Majnoon oilfield, near Basra in Iraq.
Mr Reid discovered the fire in the canteen’s ovens as he arrived for breakfast. With no one else around, the 32-year-old, a project management and material specialist for Halliburton, alerted the 150-strong workforce who fled to the muster point.
Mr Reid then tackled the flames with the help of Mr Grainger, knowing that the emergency services were nearly an hour away and the routes to and from the camp were littered with unexploded bombs, mines and the wreckage of blown-apart trucks.
He bravely re-entered the camp to find the missing members of staff who had not made it to the muster point.
A grateful colleague said last night that, due to the close proximity of the camp to refined oil, the actions of the two men saved the camp from disaster.
Mr Reid, who suffered some burns during the fire, said he was surprised at being described as a hero.
He added that William Grainger had put out the fire and also suffered injury in the incident.
Halliburton Eastern Hemisphere operations president Joe Rainey said the company was proud of its employees’ actions.