THOSE who escaped the Piper Alpha inferno yesterday joined with the families and friends of those who died to remember them on the 10th anniversary of the world's worst oil disaster.

Two services of remembrance were held in Aberdeen.

The first was a simple, no-frills one at Aberdeen's Hazlehead Park. Around 300 gathered at the striking sculpture of three oilmen below which is engraved the names of the victims.

The second was at St Nicholas Church, Aberdeen's Mither Kirk. It was boycotted by some oil workers as what one called ''a UKOOA (United Kingdom Offshore Operators' Association) service''.

Hazlehead Park's Rose Garden has seen a service every year since the memorial was erected in 1991.

The poignant messages on flowers show how prominent the lost men still are in the minds of their families.

Relatives were welcomed to the memorial by a piper and the service was conducted by a local minister, the Rev Laurie Gordon, and Mr Alan Swinton, the former chaplain of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary to which the casualties were taken in 1988.

They sang two hymns and said two prayers. Mr Swinton told them he regarded himself as a ''Piper Alpha survivor'' and that they did not need anniversaries to remember the lost. They were remembered every day.

''I hurt 10 years ago and I hurt still,'' he said.

Recalling how they had gathered when the Queen Mother unveiled the memorial, he said: ''We cried then, as we cried together often before.

''We remember - we are full of memories - the helicopters coming in and then the silence after the last one came.''

He said they remembered the tears and the frustration of the delays as people waited for news of their relatives.

Mr Swinton said those lost would never be forgotten and it was a message echoed in a poem read by Piper Alpha survivor Bob Ballantyne. He unearthed the poem, by African Birago Diop, while studying on a university course after the disaster.

Those who are dead are never gone; they are there in the flickering shadow.

The dead are not under the earth, they are in the tree that rustles, they are in the wood that groans, they are in the water that runs, they are in the hut, they are in the crowd, the dead are not dead.

Those who are dead are never gone; they are in the breast of the woman, they are in the child who is wailing and in the firebrand that flames.

The dead are not under the earth; they are in the fire that is dying.

They are in the grasses that weep, they are in the whimpering rocks, they are in the forest, they are in the house.

The dead are not dead.

Many of those who attended the Rose Garden service then carried on to the second service held at St Nicholas Church.

However, Mr Ballantyne and several others boycotted what he said was ''a UKOOA service''.

He described the St Nicholas service as ''disgraceful and hypocritical'' and said the industry was ''hijacking the occasion''.

This was denied by the Rev Angus Smith, chaplain to the oil industry, who led the service at which one of the readings was by Dr John Wills of UKOOA.

The majority of the 400 at the hour-long service were oil company personnel, but several families did attend.

They heard Mr Smith say that the legacy the victims of Piper had left could be summed up in five words - the absolute priority of safety.

''Sadly accidents have happened since Piper Alpha, but I am encouraged by the further commitment to safety which is evident in the cross industry leadership forum policy of 1997 called A Step Change in Safety.''

The chaplain's message was remarkably similar to that aired by UKOOA in recent weeks, and it prompted one survivor to say: ''I wondered which oil company he was working for.''

Several others also privately expressed the view that they believed Mr Smith was acting as a UKOOA ''mouthpiece'', but declined to be named on the basis that yesterday was a day for ''remembrance rather than controversy''.

Mr Smith emphatically denied he was representing UKOOA and said he was simply quoting things that were in train, things that were going to happen.

''We want to try to encourage anything at all that leads to safety.

''If Piper Alpha is going to be looked upon as anything other than a tragic accident without any meaning whatsoever then we have to look upon it as something which has left a legacy and a claim upon us.

''The legacy is to enhance and encourage the safety policy. The claim that is made upon us is that each of us should take thay on board.''

Mrs Ann Gillanders, 53, whose husband Ian died in the disaster, said: ''I know there are people coming today who have not been able to come back to Aberdeen in 10 years. This is a watershed for them and they felt that today was the time to try and face it. I think the minister is probably trying to do what he can to acknowledge everybody's feelings.''

q The families of two oil workers killed after fire ripped through a drilling platform travelled to Dundee yesterday to identify their bodies. Police named the dead men as Roland Duffell, 40, from Shilbottle in Northumberland, and Richard King, 56, from Jarrow, South Tyneside.

The pair - both married - were trapped in 200ft down in the Glomar Arctic IV oil rig in Dundee harbour when the blaze broke out on Saturday night.