The mystery surrounding the “Jumbo”, Hong Kong’s famous floating restaurant, continues to grow after its owner sowed confusion on Friday over whether the giant capsized during a towing operation last week.
On June 20, Aberdeen Restaurant Entreprises, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based investment company Melco International Development, said the former 76-meter-long restaurant had capsized the day before near the Paracel Islands after “finding conditions [meteorológicas] adverse”.
“The depth of the water at the site is about 1,000 meters, making it extremely difficult to carry out rescue work,” the company reported.
On Thursday night, the Hong Kong Ministry of the Sea said it had learned of the incident from the press and had requested a report from the company.
In this, the company indicated that the restaurant capsized (it wobbled and was endangered by the force of the wind) but that, “at the moment, the Jumbo and the tugboat are still in the waters off the coast of the Xisha Islands”, denomination China of the Paracelsus.
Hours later, a company spokesman contacted an AFP journalist and told him that, in communications, the word “capsized” had always been used and not “wrecked.”
When asked if the ship had sunk, the spokesman reiterated that the statement indicated that the ship “capsized” but did not specify why he mentioned that the depth of the waters made refloating operations difficult.
The South China Morning Post newspaper reported a similar conversation with a company spokeswoman, in which she insisted that the ship “capsized” and not “wrecked”, although without specifying whether the ship was still afloat.
According to the newspaper, the Ministry of the Sea told it that the company could have broken local regulations if it did not inform the authorities of a shipwreck within 24 hours of the event.
Until now, the company had not refuted the information spread by the local and international media earlier this week about the alleged sinking of the Jumbo restaurant.
