A FIRE at a pig abattoir in Brechin is being treated by police as 'unexplained'.

Quality Pork, on Montrose Road, just outside of the town, had been newly-refurbished before the blaze and was said to be worth £10m.

The alarm was raised about the fire at 4:06am on Saturday, August 5, and it was initially thought that the pig production line was left unaffected and the main damage was in a staff canteen, offices and a storage shed.

Arrangements have been made to send around 6000 pigs per week to Ashton, in England, to be processed until the facilities can be restored.

Twelve fire appliances were sent to the scene, with more than 40 firefighters attending, and the fire lasted for more than eight hours.

Owned by pig farmers and processor, Tulip, Quality Pork purchased the site from AP Jess in 2014.

Scottish Pig Producers chief executive, Andy McGowan, said: “Tulip has been extremely helpful and have put a huge effort into making space for our pigs. Everyone has been very co-operative, including our farmers and hauliers and for that we are grateful.

“We are quite content with how things are currently, compared to where we thought we were on Saturday, and we should have more information next week with regards to when we can get back into the site again.”