Hong Kong's Jumbo Floating Restaurant has not 'sunk', owners say it is 'still in waters'

Days after Hong Kong lamented sinking of iconic Jumbo Floating Restaurant while being towed to a new location, owners of diner on Thursday backtracked on earlier claims and insisted that vessel “was still in waters” near Paracel Islands. Amid increasing calls for a full investigation into what previously was known as ‘sinking’ of restaurant, vessel's owner, Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises Limited said that Jumbo and accompanying tugboat were still in water. 

260-foot, three-storey restaurant was styled after a Chinese imperial palace and just earlier this month, restaurant’s owners h said that vessel h encountered “verse conditions” while being towed away from its home location of 46 years and “Water soon entered before it began to tip”. previous statement said, “ water depth at scene is over 1,000 meters [3,300 feet], making it extremely difficult to carry out salvage works”.

However, on Thursday, amid growing pressure from authorities to elaborate on circumstances that led to apparent wreckage of Jumbo Floating Restaurant, Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises Limited denied vessel sank. But, it did not indicate wher vessel was still afloat or if it faced any or ill-fate. It is to note that shift in narrative of Jumbo’s owners came as Hong Kong's Marine Department requested restaurant group to submit a written report on incident.

Jumbo’s owners said y always used word ‘capsized’

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for  Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises Limited told CNN on Friday that company repeatedly used word “capsized” to describe incident involving Jumbo Floating Restaurant. official said that it was never claimed vessel h sunk. As per report, when spokesperson was asked if latest statement contricts previous ones, y replied saying that firm was required “to report depth of waters where ( incident) took place," and declined to answer wher this meant vessel was salvageable or remained afloat.

Jumbo Floating Restaurant was a landmark in Hong Kong for more than four deces. It has served Cantonese cuisine to more than three million guests including UK’s Queen Elizabeth II and Hollywood actor Tom Cruise. Even though renowned eatery shut down in March 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic and laid off all its staff, it h been facing financial woes for almost a dece. 

Just last month, operator Melco International Development h reportedly said that business h not been profitable since 2013. Moreover, cumulative losses h exceeded 100 million Hong Kong dollars. Without driving any profits for stakeholders, restaurant was still costing millions in maintenance fees every year and about a dozen businesses and organisations h declined an invitation to take it over,  Melco h said.

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