Restaurant That Supposedly Sank May Still Be Afloat

A clarification has been issued on a floating Hong Kong restaurant that appeared to have met its demise earlier this week while being towed to Cambodia for refurbishing—though the clarification isn't terribly clear, either. Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises Limited, owner of the 46-year-old Jumbo Floating Restaurant, now suggests the restaurant isn't totally sunk and beyond salvage, as had been insinuated Monday when it put out its initial statement noting the boat had "capsized." It's now reemphasizing that it used the word "capsized," not "sunk," and noting in a statement that the structure is "still in the waters" in the South China Sea, per CNN. But the news outlet notes that doesn't indicate whether the restaurant is still actually afloat.

An Aberdeen spokesman adds that the initial statement from earlier this week was merely meant to address "the depth of the waters where [the incident] took place"—reportedly 3,300 feet—though he wouldn't confirm what state the restaurant is currently in. Social media had lit up with complaints after news of the supposed sinking of a Hong Kong icon started circulating, causing Hong Kong lawmakers to call for a full investigation. Per the Hong Kong Free Press, the tugboat towing the Jumbo had been involved in another incident last year in which the vessel it was towing capsized. Now, "we need to know if the tugboat company [was] involved in any malpractice or human error at sea when they towed away" the Jumbo, one lawmaker tells CNN. (More Hong Kong stories.)