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One of Hong Kong’s most famous landmarks – a large floating restaurant known for its lavish banquet halls and neon lights – has overturned in the South China Sea, the parent company said Monday.
The floating Jumbo restaurant – also known as Jumbo Kingdom – was pulled out of town last week after being closed during the pandemic. The ship crashed at an adverse time on Sunday and capsized near the Paracel Islands, Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises said in a statement, adding that no crew members were injured.
The large 260-foot boat spent nearly half a century in Hong Kong waters, hosting “numerous international dignitaries and celebrities”, including Queen Elizabeth II and Tom Cruise, according to the Jumbo Kingdom website.
Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises said earlier that it could not afford maintenance costs – with millions of dollars spent on inspections and repairs to meet licensing requirements. The Hong Kong government, led by CEO Kari Lam, has rejected calls for temporary financial relief.
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“We have made it clear that the government has no plans to invest in the operation of the restaurant, as we are not good at managing such facilities,” Lam said.
Even before the pandemic, the restaurant serving Cantonese dishes was accumulating debts. But Hong Kong’s early move to ban tourists hit Jumbo Kingdom and other attractions hard.
Earlier this month, before being towed, the restaurant’s 130-foot kitchen flotilla detached from the back of the boat and sank in Hong Kong’s Aberdeen Typhoon Sanctuary.
It was unclear exactly where Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises planned to take the restaurant before it sank. A company spokesman told the South China Morning Post that the ship was being towed somewhere in Southeast Asia.
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