A man in Norway woke up to find a huge container ship had run aground and crashed into his front garden.

The 135m-ship (443ft) missed Johan Helberg’s house by metres at about 05:00 local time (03:00 GMT) on Thursday.

Mr Helberg was only alerted to the commotion by his panicked neighbour who had watched the ship as it headed straight for shore, in Byneset, near Trondheim.

“The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Mr Helberg told television channel TV2.

“I went to the window and was quite astonished to see a big ship,” he added, in an interview with the Guardian.

“I had to bend my neck to see the top of it. It was so unreal.”

“Five metres further south and it would have entered the bedroom,” he added to the Norwegian Broadcasting Company. “I didn’t hear anything.”

Neighbour Jostein Jorgensen said he was woken by the sound of the ship as it headed at full speed towards land, and ran to Mr Helberg’s house.

“I was sure that he was already outside, but no, there was no sign of life. I rang the doorbell many times and nothing,” said Mr Jorgensen.

“And it was only when I called him on the phone that I managed to contact him,” he told TV2.

The Cypriot-flagged cargo ship, the NCL Salten, had 16 people on board and was travelling south-west through the Trondheim Fjord to Orkanger when it went off course.

No-one was injured in the incident, AFP news agency reported.

It is not known what caused the crash and Norwegian police are said to be investigating.

“It’s a very bulky new neighbour but it will soon go away,” Mr Helberg added.

According to reports, the ship had previously run aground in 2023 but got free under its own power.