Hong Kong's famous Jumbo Floating Restaurant has sunk in the South China Sea after being towed away from the city.
The tourist attraction, which has struggled financially recently, capsized on Sunday near the Paracel Islands after it "encountered adverse conditions" and began to take on water, its parent company said.
It was announced last month that, ahead of its licence expiration in June, Jumbo would leave Hong Kong and await a new operator at an undisclosed location.
The company said it was "very saddened by the incident", in which no crew members were injured.
"The water depth at the scene is over 1,000 meters, making it extremely difficult to carry out salvage works," Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises said on Monday.
Marine engineers had been hired to inspect the floating restaurant and install hoardings on the vessel before the trip and "all relevant approvals" had been obtained.
The restaurant closed in March 2020, with the Covid-19 pandemic the last in almost a decade of financial woes.
Operator Melco International Development said last month the business had not been profitable since 2013 and cumulative losses had exceeded HK$100 million ($12.7m).
It was still costing millions in maintenance fees every year, and around a dozen businesses and organisations had declined an invitation to take it over at no charge, Melco said.
The restaurant set off shortly before noon last Tuesday from the southern Hong Kong Island typhoon shelter, where it had sat for nearly half a century.
Opened in 1976 by the late casino tycoon Stanley Ho, in its glory days it embodied the height of luxury, reportedly costing more than HK$30m to build.
Designed like a Chinese imperial palace and once considered a must-see landmark, the restaurant drew visitors from Queen Elizabeth II to Tom Cruise.
It also featured in several films, including Steven Soderbergh's Contagion, about a deadly global pandemic.
Jumbo's departure from Hong Kong was met with regret and nostalgia from many Hong Kong residents.
Some online commentators described pictures of the floating palace sailing across a charcoal grey ocean towards the horizon as a metaphor for Hong Kong's future.
The city has seen harsh pandemic restrictions put its status as an international hub at risk, while a national security law imposed by Beijing has stifled dissent, remoulding Hong Kong in China's authoritarian image.
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1 Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 3:48:53
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3 Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott -
4 David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:04
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1 Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott 20:35:04
2 Tadej Pogacar (SlO) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:01
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The drill
Recharge as needed, says Mat Dryden: “We try to make it a rule that every two to three months, even if it’s for four days, we get away, get some time together, recharge, refresh.” The couple take an hour a day to check into their businesses and that’s it.
Stick to the schedule, says Mike Addo: “We have an entire wall known as ‘The Lab,’ covered with colour-coded Post-it notes dedicated to our joint weekly planner, content board, marketing strategy, trends, ideas and upcoming meetings.”
Be a team, suggests Addo: “When training together, you have to trust in each other’s abilities. Otherwise working out together very quickly becomes one person training the other.”
Pull your weight, says Thuymi Do: “To do what we do, there definitely can be no lazy member of the team.”
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
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Ruwais timeline
1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established
1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants
1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed
1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.
1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex
2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea
2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd
2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens
2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies
2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export
2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.
2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery
2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital
2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13
Source: The National
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The biog
Year of birth: 1988
Place of birth: Baghdad
Education: PhD student and co-researcher at Greifswald University, Germany
Hobbies: Ping Pong, swimming, reading
Itcan profile
Founders: Mansour Althani and Abdullah Althani
Based: Business Bay, with offices in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and India
Sector: Technology, digital marketing and e-commerce
Size: 70 employees
Revenue: On track to make Dh100 million in revenue this year since its 2015 launch
Funding: Self-funded to date
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
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Date started: January 2017
Founder: Khaled Zaatarah
Based: Dubai and Los Angeles
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