In what can be termed as a bizarre incident, a Norwegian man woke up to find a large container ship rammed into his front garden only a couple of feet away from his house early Thursday morning. Initial investigations have found that the vessel’s helmsman had fallen asleep while on duty.
The 443-foot NCL Salten entered Trondheim fjord—an inlet of the Norwegian Sea located in the west-central part of the country—during the early hours of May 22 but he failed to change course as required. The cargo ship eventually ran aground just beside local man Johan Helberg’s wooden cabin around dawn.
Refloating attempts unsuccessful
According to reports, Helberg was asleep when the vessel crashed into his property. It was only after a worried neighbor, who had rung his doorbell repeatedly with no response, gave up and called him on the phone that Helberg discovered the unexpected intruder. Helberg said the doorbell rang early in the morning, a time when he prefers not to open it, CBS News reported.
His neighbor, Jostein Jorgensen, was awakened around 5 AM by the sound of a ship moving at full speed toward land and quickly rushed to Helberg’s house. The large vessel caused damage to a heating pipe in Helberg’s cabin, but he considered himself fortunate. Had the ship struck the nearby rocky cliff instead, it could have lifted and slammed directly into the house.
None of the cargo ship’s 16 crew members were injured, and Norwegian police have launched an investigation into the incident. The NCL shipping group confirmed they are cooperating fully with authorities while conducting their own internal inquiries, though they have not commented further.
Bente Hetland, the company’s CEO, noted that the same vessel had run aground twice before—once in 2023 in Hadsel and again in 2024 in Ålesund. Attempts to refloat the massive red and green container ship have so far been unsuccessful, leaving it stuck and looming over the small cabin.
Ukrainian watch officer charged
The watch officer of the ship, a Ukrainian man in his thirties admitted to falling asleep while alone on duty. He has been charged with negligent navigation. Meanwhile, the Norwegian police are also examining whether the vessel complied with regulations regarding working and rest hours.
“The individual charged was the officer on watch at the time of the incident. During questioning, he stated that he fell asleep while on duty alone, which led to the vessel running aground,” prosecutor Kjetil Bruland Sørensen said in a statement.
A tugboat was first dispatched to try to pull the ship free but was unsuccessful. On Thursday evening, a salvage company attempted to refloat the ship during high tide, but the Norwegian Coastal Administration later confirmed the effort was not successful.
Norwegian officials noted that geotechnical investigations are now required before another attempt can be made. Although no oil leaks have been detected from the vessel, the authority has an oil response vessel on standby in case it becomes necessary.