The vessel - loaded almost 100ft high with hundreds of shipping containers - was blown off course during snow storms in the Bosphorus Strait on January 7. Residents watched the ocean behemoth come careering towards their homes in the Tarabya district in Istanbul. But incredibly, the strong-armed captain steered the ship to safety with seconds to spare - as relieved onlookers filmed the near miss on their phones. Serdar Agalar recorded the clip as he watched the incident unfold from his window. He said: ''The houses survived a near accident. It was a pretty scary moment. But the ship managed to steer away just in time.'' Hours after the near miss, the vital shipping route was closed due to the heavy snowfall. The Bosphorus Strait runs by Istanbul to the Dardanelles strait further south and is one of the main arteries for oil shipped out of Russia.