Floating restaurant sinks into Chinese river in Sichuan province
Authorities begin investigation but no one thought to have been hurt
A floating restaurant on a river in southwestern China sprang a leak and capsized on Tuesday afternoon.
The incident in Nanchong, Sichuan province, was caught on camera and the footage was uploaded to social media, news portal Scol.com reported on Wednesday.
No one was hurt as the restaurant was closed at the time and there were no customers or staff on board. The vessel, known as Qiaoji Fisherman’s Port, was moored on the Jialing River in the Shunqing district of the city.
A preliminary search found a leak in the bottom of the boat, but a full investigation was under way to identify the exact cause of the incident, the report said.
District authorities surveyed the scene and the electricity supply to the vessel was switched off to prevent any further problems, it said.
Floating restaurants are popular across China, but in recent years they have faced growing criticism for adding to the country’s river pollution problems.
In September, after a visit by environmental inspectors from Beijing, authorities in Ziyang, Sichuan, ordered two such eateries to be demolished when they failed to meet local standards for handling waste water.
In July, eight floating restaurants in Luzhou, also in Sichuan, were ordered to suspend operations while they upgraded their operations to comply with environmental standards. The city has 20 such eateries.
