Rig which ran aground in Western Isles now en route to Malta
The Transocean Winner ran aground on Lewis more than two months ago.
A 17,000-tonne oil rig which ran aground on the Western Isles more than two months ago is now en route to Malta on a heavy lift ship.
The Transocean Winner rig was headed to Malta from Norway when it ran aground at Dalmore on Lewis in August after detaching from its tug in a storm.
The huge structure was refloated after three weeks and anchored at the island's Broad Bay before being put aboard the semi-submersible heavy-lift vessel OHT Hawk last week.
Paperwork held up OHT Hawk being given permission to set sail but this was finalised on Friday afternoon and the ship set off at 8.05pm.
Hugh Shaw, the Secretary of State's Representative Maritime and Salvage Intervention, said: At 5pm today I advised the Master of the Hawk that he had my permission to weigh anchor and proceed on the voyage in accordance with the agreed passage plan.
The UK Coastguard will continue to monitor its passage until it leaves the UK search and rescue region. Weather permitting, the voyage to Malta will take approximately two weeks.'
The rig's grounding on August 8 sparked pollution fears due to the 280 tonnes of diesel on board.
Investigations found two of its four fuel tanks were damaged in the incident which resulted in the loss of 53,000 litres of fuel, most of which is thought to have evaporated with no damage to the environment.