Floating Hong Kong Restaurant Sinks

Credit: Unsplash

The iconic Jumbo Kingdom capsized over the weekend.

Since it was originally established in 1976, the Jumbo Kingdom restaurant has been one of Hong Kong’s most iconic locales. The gigantic, three-story floating restaurant has been a common sight in Hong Kong’s Aberdeen Harbor, hosting numerous high-profile guests over the years including Tom Cruise, Bruce Lee, and Queen Elizabeth II. Sadly, over the weekend, this famous locale met a sudden end in the depths of the ocean.

Last week, the Jumbo Kingdom was towed out of the harbor into the open sea, where it was en route to a shipyard. The restaurant had been incurring heavy losses due to closures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, and was being moved out of public waters to await its restaurant license expiration. However, while the vessel was in transit over the weekend, a bout of severe weather conditions caused it to capsize and sink into the South China Sea. No one was harmed in the capsizing.

According to a statement from Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises Limited, the owners of the Jumbo Kingdom, the restaurant sank approximately 1,000 meters below the surface of the sea. This has made any salvage efforts extremely difficult. The company is currently conducting an investigation into the towing the company that was handling the restaurant’s transportation.

The sinking has drawn memorialization online, with many Hong Kong citizens lamenting the loss of one of the city’s most well-known landmarks. The Tai Pak, the Jumbo’s smaller sister vessel, is still docked at Aberdeen Harbor.

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