(CNN) — An iconic Hong Kong floating restaurant has sunk, simply days after it was towed out to sea en path to an unspecified vacation spot.
The restaurant’s major boat was touring to an undisclosed shipyard when it capsized on Saturday after assembly “hostile circumstances” close to the Paracel Islands (also referred to as the Xisha Islands) within the South China Sea, Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises Restricted stated in an announcement Monday.
The Jumbo Kingdom in Hong Kong, pictured in 2014.
Bruce Yan/South China Morning Put up/Getty Pictures
The boat sank greater than 1,000 meters (3,280 ft), making salvage work “extraordinarily troublesome,” the assertion stated.
It added that Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises was “very saddened by this accident,” and was working to assemble extra particulars from the towing firm. No crew members have been injured.
On Tuesday, the Hong Kong authorities requested the house owners for a report on how the vessel got here to capsize, public broadcaster RTHK reported, amid requires a extra thorough investigation into the circumstances that led to the sinking.
The information of the sinking was met with consternation on-line, with many Hong Kong social media customers bemoaning the inelegant finish to one among Hong Kong’s most acknowledged historic icons.
Some posted artwork depicting the restaurant underwater, whereas others shared farewell messages or fond reminiscences of visits previous.
Hong Kong political social gathering Third Aspect described the incident as baffling and accused the federal government and people concerned within the restaurant’s administration of not directly inflicting the capsizing of “Hong Kong individuals’s collective reminiscence,” RTHK reported.
Others noticed the sinking ship as a darkly comedian metaphor for Hong Kong’s alleged fortunes, as town — nonetheless largely shut off from the remainder of the world — clings on to pandemic restrictions following a number of years of political turmoil.
The 260-foot lengthy (about 80 meters) restaurant was the primary boat of Jumbo Kingdom, a greater than 2,000 individual capability eatery which included an older and smaller sister restaurant boat, a barge for seafood tanks, a kitchen boat, and eight small ferries to move guests from close by piers.
It additionally hosted visiting luminaries together with Queen Elizabeth II, Jimmy Carter and Tom Cruise.
The restaurant, which was solely accessible through small Jumbo-branded ferries, was well-known for its lavish Imperial-style façade, plentiful neon lights, large specifically commissioned work within the stairwell and its colourful Chinese language-style motifs — together with a golden throne within the eating corridor.
“If we take a look at the historic context, it was constructed at a time when this imperial-style Chinese language aesthetic wasn’t even inspired in China (“Outdated Issues” have been to be eliminated through the Cultural Revolution). So Jumbo Kingdom mirrored how Chinese language in Hong Kong then had a better craving or ardour for these outdated Chinese language traditions,” stated Lai.
“It (additionally) displays the shut relation and historical past Hong Kong has with the ocean.”
However because the fishing inhabitants within the island’s southern harbor dwindled, the restaurant group turned much less fashionable, and had been struggling a deficit since 2013.
The pandemic dealt the ultimate blow, with Jumbo’s house owners saying in March 2020 that they had gathered losses of greater than $13 million and the restaurant could be closed till additional discover.
A number of proposals had been put ahead to avoid wasting the historic icon, however its excessive upkeep value had deterred potential traders, with Hong Kong Chief Government Carrie Lam additionally ruling out a possible authorities bailout to avoid wasting the attraction.
With out a “white knight” rescuer that town had been ready for, the proprietor’s determined to maneuver the Jumbo Floating Restaurant, the primary boat, to an undisclosed shipyard earlier than its working license expired on the finish of June.
Tai Pak, the smaller and older boat relationship again to 1952, in addition to a not too long ago capsized kitchen boat, stay docked within the harbor.
Maggie Hiufu Wong contributed reporting.