Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
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 metres), 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 metres [3,300 feet], making it extremely difficult to carry out salvage works," read the statement.
But on Thursday, facing pressure from authorities to disclose the circumstances surrounding the apparent wreckage, the vessel's owner, Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises Limited, said in a statement the vessel and its accompanying tugboat were still in waters near the Paracel Islands (known as the Xisha Islands in China).
The statement, provided to the Hong Kong government, did not indicate whether the vessel was still afloat, or if it had become separated from its tugboat.
The apparent shift in messaging follows a request from Hong Kong's Marine Department for the restaurant group to provide a written report into the incident as part of an initial investigation.
A spokesman for Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises Limited told CNN on Friday it had always used the term "capsize" to describe the incident and had never claimed the vessel had sunk.
Asked whether this contradicted previous statements, the spokesman said the firm was required "to report the depth of the waters where (the incident) took place," and declined to answer whether this meant the vessel was salvageable or remained afloat.
Once the world's largest floating restaurant, Jumbo Kingdom shut its doors indefinitely in 2020 as the double hit of citywide protests and the pandemic contributed to losses of more than US$13 million.
A principal Hong Kong tourist attraction, the restaurant had provided a backdrop for numerous movies, including "Enter the Dragon" starring Bruce Lee, and "James Bond: The Man with the Golden Gun." It also hosted visiting luminaries including Queen Elizabeth II, Jimmy Carter and Tom Cruise.
Several proposals had been put forward to save the restaurant, but its high maintenance cost had deterred potential investors, with Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam also ruling out a potential government bailout to save the attraction.
The boat was towed away from Hong Kong on June 14, after nearly half a century moored in the city's southwest waters.
Although the owners initially declined to state its intended location, it was later revealed by the Marine Department that it was due to be taken to a shipyard in Cambodia.
News of its sinking had been met with consternation online, with many Hong Kong social media users bemoaning the inelegant end to one of the city's most recognized historic icons.
Tourism lawmaker Perry Yiu Pak-leung said Jumbo Kingdom's sinking was a loss for the city's heritage.
"Hong Kong should take this as a lesson. The government, conservationists, historians and the commercial sector should be working together to protect and make good use of these [historic] sites," he said. "We stalled too long."
Hong Kong lawmakers are now calling on the government to launch a more thorough investigation.
"We need to know if the tug boat company were involved in any malpractice or human error at sea when they towed away the Jumbo Kingdom vessel," said Tik Chi-yuen, chairman of the Third Side political party.
Stephen Li, a professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University's Department of Logistics and Maritime Studies, said it was "quite uncommon" for a vessel to sink simply due to bad weather, adding that sea transport is "very safe these days" given advancements in navigation technology.
But an investigation could take years, said Li, especially as it occurred outside of the city's jurisdiction in international waters.
The Marine Department said in a statement on Wednesday that the ship owner had hired an agency to inspect the vessel and made sure it was seaworthy before being towed.
It is not clear whether the vessel was insured, potentially complicating any salvage operations.
Andrew Brooker, managing director of Hong Kong-based marine insurance firm Latitude Brokers, said it was "incredibly unlikely" the vessel was insured for loss or damage.
"The marine insurance market does not like [to carry the risk of] 50-year-old barges being towed across 1,000 kilometres of open ocean in typhoon season," he said.
Brooker added that Jumbo Kingdom's owners would not have been legally required to insure the vessel outside of Hong Kong waters.
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.