The owners of an oil rig which grounded on the Western Isles have paid about £400,000 to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).

The Transocean Winner came ashore at Dalmore on Lewis in August last year after detaching from its tug in a storm en-route from Norway to Malta.

It took three weeks before the 17,000-tonne structure was refloated and anchored at the island's Broad Bay.

Transocean has now paid about £400,000 requested by the Coastguard to cover the costs of dealing with the incident.

An MCA spokeswoman said: "The MCA put in an insurance claim of around £400,000. That claim has now been paid in full."

The rig's grounding had sparked pollution fears due to the 280 tonnes of diesel on board.

Two of its four fuel tanks were damaged in the incident, which resulted in the loss of 53,000 litres of fuel.

Most of the fuel is thought to have evaporated with no damage to the environment.

The rig was eventually towed to Turkey and scrapped.

A spokeswoman for Transocean said: "Transocean appreciates all of those who provided assistance last summer, most especially the Isle of Lewis residents, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Secretary of State's representative for maritime salvage and intervention and the local communities.

"Transocean continues to conduct regular surveys and inspections of the beach and grounding site, where no pollution has been detected.

"We will continue to meet our responsibilities arising out of this incident."