- Sometimes we wish we could sleep as soundly as this guy.
Some people can sleep through anything. Nothing can stir them, whether it’s honking cars, screaming children, or quaking ground.
Or a gigantic cargo ship running aground mere feet away from their homes.
Johan Helberg is one of those people. On a recent morning, the Norwegian irately went to answer the door after being roused by the doorbell ringing constantly.
Ironically, the doorbell did what a much louder noise could not. Helberg walked out of his front door to face an enormous ship in his front yard.
The NCL Salten cargo ship had run aground overnight. The vessel had come to a stop only a few feet away from Helberg’s home.
He really can count himself lucky, as should the ship have hit the rocks only a bit to its right, its entire bulk would’ve come down on the house. Fortunately, he’ll now only have to replace a broken heating pipe.
A Sound Sleeper
The close-call incident happened the night between May 21 and 22 near the city of Trodnheim in northern Norway. Early in the morning of that Thursday, Helberg woke up to his doorbell ringing frantically.
“The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to receive visitors,” Helberg grumbled to the Norwegian TV2 news channel.
At the door was Helberg’s neighbor, Jostein Jorgensen. He inquired whether Helberg was aware of his new neighbor.
We can only imagine Helberg was about to ask what the hell Jorgensen was talking about until he happened to look past his shoulder. There, on Helberg’s yard, was the 442-foot-long cargo ship NCL Salten.
Unlike Helberg, who had slept fitfully through the entire accident, Jorgensen had seen it all. Around 5 a.m. local time, he said he was woken by noises coming from a ship.
“When I looked out the window, I saw a ship coming full speed toward the shore,” he recalled. Jorgensen expected the ship to change course, but it didn’t — and it was aimed at his neighbor’s house.
Jorgensen ran to his porch and started yelling at Helberg to get out. However, as he received no reply, he tried calling him, but didn’t get Helberg’s attention either.
At that point, it was too late. The ship ran ashore, only about 20 feet from Helberg’s house.
‘It Was So Unreal’
After Helberg had been successfully woken up, he understandably had some problems comprehending the situation. And who can blame him — the man had to deal with a ship in his yard first thing in the morning.
“I had to bend my neck to see the top of it. It was so unreal,” Helberg told The Guardian.
Helberg should count his lucky stars, though, as the accident could’ve easily ended up in a much worse disaster. Had the ship veered just a little bit, Helberg’s house — and quite possibly the man himself — would be history.
“If the ship had hit the rocks right next to it, it would have lifted up and hit the house hard. It wasn’t many meters off,” said Helberg.
Fortunately, the ship missed the disastrous mark. The only thing it seems to have broken on Helberg’s property is a heating pipe.
Consequently, his house might get chilly before he can get the pipe fixed. Still, it could’ve been a lot worse.
A Repeating Story
But why did NCL Salten almost crush Helberg’s house? That’s an excellent question, and the authorities are trying to figure it all out.
“Incidents like this should not happen, and we have started an investigation into the causes,” said Bente Hetland, the CEO of the ship’s owner NCL.
It seems something is not quite right with the Salten. She has run aground twice before in 2023 and 2024.
Neither incident caused any major injuries or harm. According to the NCL, both groundings were likely caused by a technical failure.
The story seems to have repeated itself once again. The Salten has not caused any mentionable damage or environmental harm, and one of the suspected causes of the accident is an equipment failure.
Here’s hoping they can fix whatever’s wrong with the ship before it actually ends up crashing into someone’s living room next year.