An oil rig which broke a tow and ran aground in the UK was bound for Malta when the incident happened.

The Transocean Winner was bound for Malta from Norway when it broke free from its tug and ran aground at the Western Isles in heavy weather on Monday.

A small team of salvage experts has been lowered onto the stranded oil rig for an initial assessment, the BBC reported.

A temporary exclusion zone of 300m has also been implemented around the rig because of fuel carried on board.

No one was on board the 17,000-tonne drilling rig when it became detached from its tug boat.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch has begun an inquiry into the incident.

It is understood that from Malta, the rig was to be taken to a yard in Turkey to be scrapped, the BBC said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-37010534

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.