Johan Helberg was snug in his bed early last Thursday morning when an 11,000-ton container ship came barreling toward his home on the coast of Byneset, Norway.
The cargo vessel ran aground a mere 16 feet from his house, while Helberg (who is deaf) slept through the entire thing.
His neighbor, Jostein Jorgensen, heard the ship coming towards them and ran to check on Helberg. He was alarmed that his neighbor wasn't already outside to inspect the damage, so he rang the doorbell repeatedly to no avail, before he finally got Helberg to answer his phone.
Helberg told the local news by way of explanation,
The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don't like to open.
In his defense, I don't like to open my door at 5 a.m. either, but these are some extenuating circumstances, Johan!
After his neighbor alerted him to what was going on, Helberg went to his window to see what all the commotion was about. He described his reaction to the Guardian, saying,
[I was] quite astonished to see a big ship. I had to bend my neck to see the top of it. It was so unreal.
That's no joke.
Helberg wasn't the only one sleeping through the shipwreck, as the ship's watch officer apparently fell asleep on the job, leading to the vessel veering dangerously off course.
Thankfully, no one was injured as a result, and the only damage was to a heating pipe going to the home. Helberg told TV2 that things could have turned out much worse.
As of Wednesday morning, the ship had apparently been dislodged from Helberg's lawn.
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