A container which fell into the North Sea and was left hanging 20ft below the surface of the Brent Alpha platform attached only by rope has now been lowered to the sea bed for safety reasons.

The container, carrying sections of pipe was being manoeuvred on to an awaiting supply vessel when the crane lifting the container developed a mechanical fault causing the container to fall.

The incident occurred on Sunday on Shell's Brent Alpha installation and resulted in 54 non-essentially personal being evacuated from the rig.

The container was initially left hanging 20ft below the water, still attached to the crane, but concerns were raised that it would damage existing pipes.

Shell said "in due course" it would be recovered but had been placed at a depth of 140m to keep it safe.

Shell UK added: “A temporary, non-emergency evacuation of non-essential personnel is has taken place.

“A total of 54 people have left the platform, with a team of 28 remaining on board as the planned recovery operation takes place.

“Eighteen people were transferred from Brent Alpha to Brent Bravo, Brent Charlie and Brent Delta. A further 19 will then be flown to Aberdeen via Scatsa. The remaining 17 will be flown back to Aberdeen directly from Brent Alpha.”

Brent Alpha is 115 miles off Shetland.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has been informed of the incident. No-one was injured.