SMOKE could be seen across Hartlepool this morning as a fire broke out on an oil rig.

An oil rig at Able UK in the Seaton Carew area of Hartlepool caught fire at 8.12am this morning, August 6, during enabling works to the Sable Island Decommissioning Proect.

The Sable Decommissioning Project is the recycling of parts of a rig off the coast of Nova Scotia in Canada.

Cleveland Fire Brigade was alerted of the incident at 8.16am, but the blaze was put out within 15 minutes, by Able UK's on-site emergency response team, before the fire brigade arrived.

Five fire engines from Middlesbrough, Stockton, Billingham and Hartlepool attended the scene.

Emergency services stayed to contain two small pockets of fire but left by 9.30am.

A spokesperson for Able UK said: "At 8:12 this morning one of the topside structures linked to the Sable Island decommissioning project caught fire during initial enabling works. As a routine precaution, several fire engines attended the scene.

"The fire was extinguished within 15 minutes by Able’s own on-site emergency response team, with further assistance from the Fire Brigade and there were no injuries.”