A fundraising appeal has been launched to support the family of a North East oil rig worker who died after an incident under police investigation off the coast of Qatar.

Robert Robson, 38, of South Shields, was fatally wounded aboard the platform in the Persian Gulf with another man, thought to be a colleague, being held by police on suspicion of murder.

The fundraiser, set up by fellow oil rig workers with the initial target of £10,000 to help his family, has already received pledges worth more than £24,000.

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Kristie Graham, Mr Robson’s partner, mum to Willow, ten, and Sefa, 17 months, who had hoped to marry Mr Robson next year, told the Shields Gazette the appeal was ‘heart-warming’.

She said: “The money’s going to the children’s futures, for them to go to university or travel the world – whatever they want to do.

“After they’ve suffered such a loss, it can still give them the future we wanted them to have.

“It’s really heart-warming. After such a horrific event happening you can lose faith in humanity, but this helps restore it a bit and gives you faith there’s good people out there who do care.”

Mr Robson, who was also known as Mark, was working on the Seafox Burj oil rig when the incident happened in the early hours of Monday, December 12.

A second British man was injured and treated in hospital, with a third detained by authorities.

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Mr Robson was a mechanical engineer and worked on projects including construction of The Word, National Centre for the Written Word, in South Shields, before moving into the off-shore sector.

He was a qualified rope access technician and recently as an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) pilot technician.

Mr Robson worked in North Sea oil and gas fields as well as around the world, including the Middle East, Colombia and Borneo.

Mr Robson was approaching the end of an eight-week stint in the area and was due to return home in time to spend Christmas with his family.

His mother, Denise Robson, said Mr Robson was ‘popular and well-liked’.

Speaking to the Shields Gazette, she said: “Everyone who met him said he was a one-off and a lovely, lovely lad and that has been evident in the well-wishers from across the globe who knew him and loved him – it makes me very proud.

“That has been a great comfort to us, that people have thought so much of him and to initiate the GoFundMe was so generous and so kind.”

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The appeal was set up by Tom Stanton, a rope access inspection technician based in Scunthorpe.

He said: “I never actually met Robbie but we’re both off-shore workers and his story has been shared widely – with it being such a horrendous situation it’s travelled fast.

"I just felt something needed to be done, but I can’t take all the credit, I got the ball rolling but it’s been a collective effort.

“A lot of us have families and being in the same sector ourselves we can only imagine what impact it has had.”

To support the family click here