Two oil workers stranded in Azerbaijan have made a desperate plea to the Scottish Government to bring them home.
Mark Munro and Allan Tait are trapped in the Caucasus nation after being caught up in a nightclub fight in its capital Baku.
Twenty-one-year-old Mr Tait has admitted he was involved in the brawl and paid several thousand pounds in compensation to one of the victims.
Mr Munro says he has been given assurances by local police that there is no evidence against him.
But both men have had travel restrictions imposed on them and have been forced to stay in the city until the situation is resolved.
Several weeks have now passed since they were originally quizzed and charged and they have appealed to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon for help.
Last night, the duo described their situation as “scary” and said they were frustrated by the delays in resolving the case.
Mr Munro, 30, from Wick, said: “The embassy say that it’s to do with procedures and they can’t seem to intervene.
“We keep being told it’s this week, but weeks have gone by and become months. It’s scary stuff.”
The incident happened on the first night that he and workmates went ashore after a period working on a BP rig off the coast.
Mr Munro is an offshore industrial cleaner for Cape, which has a joint venture agreement with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic.
Mr Munro and Mr Tait, a mechanic from Aberdeen, were detained by police and appeared in court.
Mr Tait said that he paid compensation and was told that the charges were dropped.
They were later released and the pair returned to work.
However, a few days later, they were ordered back ashore for more police questioning.
Their passports were confiscated, and although the documents were returned after pressure from the British Embassy, the men were banned from leaving the country.
Mr Munro, who says he is now spending large sums of money to stay in a hotel, said he had been given assurances by an investigating officer that there was no evidence against him, but he was beginning to feel the strain.
He said: “It’s starting to get on top of me. I just don’t know what’s happening.”
Mr Munro’s partner Karyse Anderson and his family are desperate to get him back to the UK.
He has missed a family holiday to Spain and the chance of two potential new jobs – one in Wick and one in Canada – and the couple had been due to move house.
Meanwhile, Mr Tait is also missing family, including his partner, Gemma Milford, mother Morag Leslie and grandmother Irene, who has been ill recently.
It was his first time working offshore in a foreign country.
He said: “It’s pretty worrying. It’s the way it is dragging on. No one is telling us what’s going on.”
Mr Tait’s father, also Allan, and his stepmother Pauline said: “We just want answers. It never seems to be the end of it.”
In their letter to Ms Sturgeon, Donald and Linda Munro said that the “strain of this ongoing saga is taking its toll and we know he is feeling very down”.
They say they fear for their son’s physical and mental wellbeing and are considering flying out to help.
The couple plead for Ms Sturgeon’s help, adding: “Mark has done nothing wrong but is effectively being detained without charge in a country which, by all accounts, has an alarming human rights record.
“All he wants is the opportunity to come home, rejoin his family, get on with his life and put this whole distressing experience behind him.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “We have received Mr and Mrs Munro’s letter, and will respond to it in due course.
“We note that Mr Munro is receiving consular assistance in Azerbaijan. We will make contact with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to establish the facts of the case, and will be happy to offer any help that we can.”
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “We can confirm we are providing consular assistance to a British national in Azerbaijan.”
No one from Cape could be reached for comment.
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