On January 5th 1993 the Liberian registered oil tanker Braer hit rocks off the Shetland Islands.

Twenty eight years ago the Braer oil tanker ran aground off the Shetland Isles in hurricane-force winds, spilling almost 85,000 tonnes of crude oil.

The captain and crew of the vessel were airlifted to safety by helicopter after its engines failed and it became clear the disaster was imminent.  It hit rocks in Quendale Bay, just west of Sumburgh Head, on the south tip of Shetland, just before midday on 5th January 1993.

According to World Wide Fund for Nature, at least 1,500 birds died and up to a quarter of the local grey seal population was affected.

In the end the weather limited the full extent of the damage as much of the oil was swept out to sea. The Gulfaks crude that the Braer was carrying was also lighter and more easily biodegradable than other North Sea crudes.

The Braer was carrying twice as much crude oil as the Exxon Valdez, which had run aground off Alaska four years earlier. The Alaskan oil spill had caused a devastating environmental disaster.

The first sign the Braer was in danger had come at 5:19 AM, when the coastguard was told the tanker, which was travelling between Norway and Canada, had lost power in a storm 10 miles south of Shetland. The situation quickly deteriorated and by 9 am, fears were raised that the Braer would run aground near Horse Holm, an island near Sumburgh Head.  Instead, the current carried the ship into Quendale Bay where it foundered and breached, spilling 84,700 tonnes of oil into the sea.

The 800ft vessel had been built in Japan in 1975 and did not have the more modern double hull which would have lessened the chance of an oil-spillage.

There were major inquiries, including one by Lord Donaldson, which looked at the disaster and how it could be avoided in future.

Mistakes were made, such as moving all the crew off the ship and not letting them back when it had missed the rocks to take a line from the newly-arrived salvage tug. The Captain of the Braer tried desperately, with the coastguards, to get his crew back on board but the police would not release his crew because there was a confusion over orders.

A report into the disaster, published in 1994, said bad weather was largely to blame for the accident. But it also condemned the actions of the ship's captain, Alexandros Gelis, who, it said, demonstrated a fundamental lack of basic seamanship.

By October 1995 a total of £45m had been paid out in compensation but a moratorium on payments was then imposed as the International Oil Pollution Fund neared its limit of £50m.

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