OSLO: The helmsman of a huge container ship that ran aground in Norway just a stone’s throw away from a cabin as its owner slept was probably asleep as well at the time of the accident, Norwegian media reported on Friday.

“Only one person was on the bridge at the time. He was steering the vessel, but didn’t change course when entering the Trondheim fjord as he should have,” the news agency NTB reported. “Police have received information from others who were on board that he was asleep,” police official Kjetil Bruland Sorensen told NTB.

The 135-metre (443-foot) NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just metres from Johan Helberg’s wooden cabin around dawn on Thursday. Helberg discovered the unexpected visitor only when a panicked neighbour who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone.

“The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television channel TV2. His neighbour, Jostein Jorgensen, said he was roused at around 5am by the sound of a ship heading at full speed toward land and immediately ran to Helberg’s house.

None of the cargo’s 16 crew members were injured, and Norwegian police have opened an investigation. “We are aware of the police stating that they have one suspect, and we continue to assist the police and authorities in their ongoing investigation,” the NCL shipping group said.

“We are also conducting internal inquiries but prefer not to speculate further,” it added. Efforts to refloat the ship have failed so far, and the massive red and green container ship remained stuck, looming over the small cabin.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2025