Owners of Jumbo Floating Restaurant backtrack on sinking claims as authorities investigate
CNN
The owners of an iconic Hong Kong floating restaurant that made headlines around the world after reports emerged it had sunk at sea, appeared Thursday to walk-back earlier claims it was beyond salvageable, insisting the vessel "was still in the waters" near the Paracel Islands, as calls grow for a full investigation into the incident.
Jumbo Kingdom -- a 260-foot (80 meters), three-story restaurant styled after a Chinese imperial palace -- encountered "adverse conditions" last weekend while being towed through the South China Sea. "Water soon entered before it began to tip," its owners initially said in a statement Monday.
"The water depth at the scene is over 1,000 meters [3,300 feet], making it extremely difficult to carry out salvage works," read the statement.
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