Giant cargo ship's seriously close call in snowy Istanbul (VIDEO)

Residents of the Tarabya district in Istanbul, already coping with unusually heavy snowfall over the past few days, were astonished to find a supertanker carrying hundreds of cargo containers bursting through the fog and almost running aground.

Just minutes before the Bosphorus strait was closed to shipping traffic early on January 7 due to adverse weather conditions, the container ship made a beeline for the Sea of Marmara at high speed.

Initial shocked reactions quickly give way to nervous laughter as onlookers realized the ship wasn’t going to crash into the shore.

There were no reports of damage or injuries.