Sofia Ferreira Santos
BBC News
NTB/Jan Langhaugvia via Reuters
The giant ship crashed into the front yard of a local resident on Thursday
The inspector of the giant vessel that stranded and crashed into a Norwegian garden told police he was asleep at the time of the incident.
Investigators said the man, a Ukrainian citizen in his 30s, admitted to falling asleep while working.
He is charged with negligent voyages and police are also investigating whether rules regarding working hours and rest hours are compliant with the vessel.
135mship (443ft) missed the house in meters when it ran aground on Thursday morning in Byneset near Trondheim, central Norway. Efforts to modify it have failed so far.
“The individual charged was an officer under supervision at the time of the incident,” a prosecutor of the Tronrag Police District said at a press conference.
“During the question, he said he fell asleep on his own while working, which led to the ship stranding,” he added.
No one was injured in the incident.
The NCL Salten, a Cyprus-style cargo ship, had 16 people on board, and when they left the course they had traveled southwest through the Trondheimfjord to Orkanger.
See: Norwegian explains to awaken to a cargo ship in his garden
Johann Helberg, who owns the property, described the moment he looked out the window and saw the boat in his front yard.
“I had to bend my neck and look at the top of it. It was very unrealistic,” he said in an interview with the Guardian.
He was warned of the fuss by his panicked neighbor after hearing the sound of the ship, and saw him heading straight towards the shore.
“I would have been in the bedroom five metres further south,” Helberg told the Norwegian broadcasting company.
Reports say the ship had previously stranded in 2023, but the crew were able to release it on their own.
