A heroic ship's engineer has told how he helped to avert a major disaster when an oil tanker loaded with 300 tons of fuel caught fire.

Derek Davison, 59, was left traumatised by the blast and fire on his ship, The Border Heather, at BP's Grangemouth oil refinery, near Edinburgh.

He is now recovering at home in Cramlington, Northumberland, with his wife Linda.

It is the third major incident in his 37-year career in the Merchant Navy.

The tanker, only four weeks old, and its 10 strong crew, were preparing to leave the quayside after loading fuel for the Orkney and Shetland Islands when fire struck.

Second engineer Mr Davison, who served his time with Parsons in Heaton, Newcastle, courageously put on breathing apparatus and headed towards the flames to help his crew and firemen.

He said: "I was in the engine room when a motor exploded. We thought the ship had hit the quay.

"We had smoke and the captain said we had better get out of the engine room. I still wasn't aware there was a fire.

"I went up on deck and saw smoke billowing.

"In the compartment next to the fire we had 300 tons of petrol and it was a miracle the ship didn't go up.

"You couldn't see your hand in front of you because of the smoke. I was just helping the fire-fighters all I could. They were asking what compartment was what so they could direct their hoses where they needed to.

"I was in there for 20 minutes and can't recall much about it."

Although Mr Davison was still suffering severely with shock he opted to stay with the damaged ship and help sail it to Holland for repairs. Since the fire he has undergone counselling.

He says he can't make up his mind about whether he can return to sea. In 1977 he was on The Hero which sank in the North Sea off Germany and spent four hours in a life raft waiting for rescue. In 1969 a pipe blew up in Mr Davison's face on a ship refuelling in the Canary Islands. He was temporarily blinded.