A Norwegian man woke up to find a huge Cyprus-registered container ship mere metres away from his home, international media reported on Friday. 

The Cyprus-flagged cargo ship, the NCL Salten, had been travelling southwest through the Trondheim Fjord on Norway’s west coast towards nearby Orkanger when it veered off course and ran aground, crashing into the garden of local resident Johan Helberg, in the village of Byneset.  

The incident occurred around 5am local time on Thursday, as reported by the British newspaper the Guardian, which first interviewed an astonished Helberg. 

Helberg only learned what had happened from his panicked neighbour, who watched the 135-meter-long ship plough straight into the property, narrowly missing the house. 

Helberg looked out of his window to see the ship’s enormous bow. 

“I went to the window and was quite astonished to see a big ship,” he said. “I had to bend my neck to see the top of it. It was so unreal.” 

“The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t usually answer,” Helberg told Norwegian media. 

His neighbour, Jostein Jorgensen, told media he woke up to the sound of the ship crashing. 

“I was sure [Helberg] was already outside, but he was actually inside the house. I rang the doorbell several times and nothing.” 

Jorgensen ended up having to call his neighbour to break the news to him on the phone. 

The Cyprus-flagged ship had 16 crew members on board, among them Norwegians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians and Russians. There were no reports of injuries or oil spills.

People stand near a container ship, which almost hit a house, in Trondheim, Norway

“Normally, ships turn left or right into the fjord. But this went straight ahead,” Helberg said.

Christian Stokke, a spokesperson for the local Trondelag police district, told local media that the police had “identified a suspect” among those on board the vessel, and that police were working on several theories, including technical failure and human error. 

The shipping company, North Sea Container Line (NCL), confirmed that the shipmate had been named a suspect, but that this was a routine police procedure. 

There was “no reason to believe this was intentional” NCL’s chief executive, Bente Hetland, said. 

“Incidents like this should not happen, and we have started an investigation into the causes. Today, we are relieved that there were no injuries, and our main focus is on the people near the ship and our crew,” she added. 

The ship remained stuck aground on Thursday after the first attempt to remove it was unsuccessful. 

According to reports, the same ship had previously run aground in 2023 but was freed under its own power.