PETALING JAYA: A floating boat house themed restaurant owner in Kelantan has lost nearly RM800,000 after strong currents swept away his establishment today.
According to Harian Metro, Mohd Izhan Ramli, 40, said the losses include damage to parts of the boat house, submerged furniture and perishable seafood stored in freezers, including recently purchased king crabs.
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He mentioned that the restaurant had many customer bookings for today, but since they had planned to take a one-week break, the reservations had to be canceled.
“We took a break to clean up fallen tree debris that damaged part of the boat house, as well as to fix some minor damage caused by the currents,” he was quoted as saying.
“The front section of the boat was broken, through which, water seeped in and damaged the frozen seafood, including the king crabs.
“When the boat’s anchor ropes snapped this afternoon and it was swept away by the currents, the damage worsened. I estimate my losses to be around RM800,000,” he said.
The incident, which occurred at around 3.30pm, also swept away his personal boat, which was stored on a raft. However, no damage was reported to the personal boat.
The drifting boat house was eventually rescued at the Kuala Besar estuary with the help of the Malaysian Civil Defense Force (APM) and local villagers.
Meanwhile, the raft carrying his personal boat was secured at Kampung Keseng, not far from where the boat house was retrieved.
The owner shared that he purchased the boat house four years ago at a cost of RM500,000 and that no major incidents had occurred before this.
