Nine people were killed in the Stockline factory explosion

Five specialists from Grampian Fire and Rescue Service have travelled with UK colleagues to Pakistan.

They have been involved in previous operations in Macedonia, Algeria and northern Iraq and at the Stockline plastics explosion in Glasgow in 2004.

Risk manager Jim Clark said they were prepared for tough conditions.

Mr Clark said the five firefighters have joined the UK Fire Services' response team which has been sent to the area and they would be drawing on years of experience.

It's a dangerous job, there's always the presence of further collapse, usually very high heat conditions within the collapsed structure Jim Clark Grampian Fire and Rescue Scots appeal for quake victims

He said: "The team was instigated in 1991. Since that time they've been in Macedonia, Algeria, northern Iraq and most recently at the Stockline Plastics building collapse in 2004."

Nine people died in an explosion at the ICL Stockline plant in Maryhill on 11 May, 2004. More than 300 firefighters, medics and police joined the 72-hour search for survivors.

Speaking about the task in Pakistan, Mr Clark told BBC Radio Scotland: "The primary role is search and rescue and that is getting into the collapsed buildings, finding people who are still alive and rescuing them.

'Locate people'

"The team are firefighters, whose normal duties are responding to day-to-day emergencies in the Grampian area, but over and above that they have been trained in search and rescue.

"The skills allow them to tunnel into collapsed buildings, work their way through collapsed debris and try to locate people who are still alive.

"It's a dangerous job, there's always the presence of further collapse, usually very high heat conditions within the collapsed structure, dust and not knowing quite what lies beyond the wall you're perhaps trying to break through."