ANDREW Mochan, one of 62 survivors of the Piper Alpha disaster, has died in hospital. He was 63.

A total of 167 men died on July 6, 1988, on the North Sea oil platform, 120 miles off Aberdeen, in the world's worst offshore disaster.

Mr Mochan, from Cardonald, Glasgow, who was a superintendent engineer on the six-storey platform, escaped by jumping 150ft into the water. He said later that as he swam away on his back there was not a ''square inch'' of the platform which was not on fire.

An employee of the Aberdeen-based Wood Group, he told an inquiry, headed by Lord Cullen, that he started his tour of duty on Piper Alpha on the day of the explosion.

He never worked after the incident because of the severe burns he suffered. He also suffered psychological damage and said he could never go offshore again. He had to attend hospital on a regular basis.

Mr Mochan was diagnosed last December with a rare blood condition - MDS - which prevents the bone marrow from working properly. After contracting an infection he suffered renal failure and died at the Southern General Hospital, Glasgow, last Friday.

Last night his eldest daughter, Helen, 35, said: ''The tragedy changed my dad overnight. He became very focused on safety issues and on how to prevent tragedies.

''He had to get hip and shoulder replacement operations because of what happened. But he still led as active a life as he possibly could and always tried to appear very happy. He was the type of person whose glass was never half-empty, it was always half-full.

''He was a devoted family man whose grandchildren were the light of his life. He was also very very popular and well known in the Cardonald area. He will be very sadly missed.''

Mr Mochan is survived by wife Helen, his three daughters and seven grandchildren.