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Trondheim, Norway – A container ship’s surprise visit to a local resident’s front yard has sparked an investigation, with authorities suspecting the sole helmsman may have been asleep at the wheel.
The 443-foot NCL Salten ran aground early Thursday morning, coming to rest just feet from Johan Helberg’s cabin. Helberg was unaware of the looming vessel until a persistent neighbor, Jostein Jorgensen, alerted him by phone after repeated doorbell rings went unanswered. Jorgensen reported being awakened around 5 a.m. by the sound of a ship approaching the shore at full speed.
While the ship caused damage to a heating pipe, Helberg considers himself fortunate. “If the ship had hit the rocky cliff right next to it,” he told TV2, “it would have lifted up and hit the house hard.”
The 16 crew members aboard the NCL Salten were unharmed. Police are investigating the incident and believe the helmsman, who was alone on the bridge at the time, may have fallen asleep and failed to adjust course upon entering the Trondheim fjord. The NCL shipping group is cooperating with the investigation and conducting internal inquiries.
This isn’t the first grounding incident for the NCL Salten. CEO Bente Hetland confirmed to TV2 that the vessel ran aground in 2023 in Hadsel and again in 2024 in Ålesund.
Efforts to dislodge the ship have been unsuccessful, leaving the massive container ship perched precariously near Helberg’s cabin.