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A tour boat driver who crashed into an ancient pagoda in West Lake, a popular tourist destination in the eastern city of Hangzhou, admitted he was using his cell phone at the time, officials said.

At full moon, when candles inside the pagodas are lit, the candle light appears to be a reflection of the moon.[File photo]

No one was injured when the boat driver, surnamed Meng, ran into a 2-meter-tall pagoda, one of three forming the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, a top attraction at the lake.

Meng said he had been checking the news while steering the boat at around 9:25pm on Monday, according to yesterday’s Qianjiang Evening News. Meng said he tried to avoid a collision but the boat was too close by the time he realized the danger.

His boat hit two steel guard rails outside the three stone pagodas, causing the southern pagoda to fall into the lake. None of the dozens of tourists onboard was injured.

Thanks to the thick silt on the bottom of the lake, the pagoda didn’t crack, the West Lake management authority said, and it was salvaged the next morning.

The newspaper said some people had commented that pleasure boat owners were putting too much pressure on drivers by adding evening tours in the summer. One driver said: “Driving a boat is hard and stressful. One may want to play with the phone to relax.”

Meng could face charges of damaging cultural relics as the pagodas are a state-level protected site, legal experts said. The pear-shaped pagodas were first built in 1090 but destroyed during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). The current ones are from 1621.

At full moon, when candles inside the pagodas are lit, the candle light appears to be a reflection of the moon.

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