Containership narrowly avoids houses after running aground in Northern Norway

A container vessel ran aground and narrowly avoided crashing into some houses along Norway's northern coast on Thursday, May 22.

The Cyprus-registered, 862TEU feeder ship NCL Salten was navigating the Trondheimsfjord with 16 crew on board when it ran aground near the town of Lauvset at around 05:00 local time on Thursday.

Local authorities have determined that the residences did not suffer any damage and that no injuries or oil spills occurred as a result of the mishap.

Response teams from the Norwegian Coastal Administration had attempted to refloat the grounded containership but were unsuccessful.

The ship's owner has since requested for tug assistance for another attempt at refloating during high tide.

An eyewitness said that the ship sailed straight towards the coast instead of turning left or right as is typical for large vessels navigating the fjord.

Local police have reportedly identified one suspect among the crew. North Sea Container Line (NCL), the operator of NCL Salten, said that the naming of a suspect is part of police procedure.

NCL also said that it has begun conducting its own investigation to identify the probable causes of the incident.