Passengers aboard the MV Hondius began disembarking in Tenerife as multiple countries coordinated emergency evacuations and quarantines following a deadly hantavirus outbreak linked to the expedition vessel.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Passengers aboard the MV Hondius began leaving the hantavirus-stricken expedition cruise ship Sunday after it arrived off the coast of Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands, where international health authorities launched a large-scale evacuation and quarantine operation following multiple deaths connected to the outbreak.
Spanish officials, the World Health Organization and cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions said none of the more than 140 remaining passengers and crew currently aboard the vessel are showing symptoms of hantavirus infection. An Associated Press journalist at the port observed passengers being ferried ashore in small launch boats as authorities carefully managed the disembarkation process.
The vessel arrived near Tenerife early Sunday after departing Cape Verde on May 6 amid growing concern over infections tied to the cruise. Since the outbreak began, three people have died and five passengers who previously left the ship have tested positive for hantavirus, a potentially life-threatening viral illness.
Spain’s Health Ministry said Spanish citizens would be the first passengers removed from the ship. Authorities stated that all departing individuals would undergo health screenings before leaving the vessel and would only disembark once evacuation flights were prepared to transport them to their home countries or quarantine facilities.
“The entire operation is proceeding normally,” Spanish Health Minister Mónica García said.
Officials said evacuation flights were expected to continue through Sunday and Monday. The passengers and crew aboard the ship represent more than 20 nationalities, prompting a multinational response involving several governments and health agencies.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus traveled to Tenerife alongside Spain’s health and interior ministers to oversee the operation.
Authorities stressed that passengers and crew leaving the vessel would not interact with the local population during the evacuation process.
Hantavirus is typically transmitted through exposure to rodent droppings, urine or saliva, particularly when contaminated particles become airborne and are inhaled. Most strains are not considered easily transmissible between humans. However, officials said the outbreak aboard the Hondius involves the Andes strain of hantavirus, which researchers believe may spread person-to-person in rare circumstances.
Symptoms can emerge anywhere from one to eight weeks after exposure.
Passengers disembarking from the ship were instructed to leave most belongings behind. Authorities permitted only small bags containing essential personal items, identification documents, phones and chargers.
Spanish officials said some crew members, along with the body of one passenger who died aboard the ship, would remain on the vessel as it continues to Rotterdam in the Netherlands for disinfection procedures. Oceanwide Expeditions said the voyage to Rotterdam is expected to take approximately five days.
Spanish authorities confirmed that Spanish citizens evacuated from the ship would undergo quarantine and medical observation inside Spain. Oceanwide Expeditions identified 13 Spanish passengers and one Spanish crew member aboard the vessel.
Several countries coordinated independent repatriation plans for their citizens. The United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands arranged evacuation flights, while American passengers are expected to quarantine at a medical facility in Nebraska after arriving in the United States.
Dutch officials said 29 people, including Dutch citizens and individuals from other countries, would travel aboard a chartered Dutch evacuation flight.
France’s Foreign Ministry said five French passengers would be hospitalized for 72 hours upon returning home before entering a 45-day home quarantine period.
British authorities said U.K. passengers and crew would also undergo hospital observation after repatriation.
Australia announced it would dispatch an aircraft expected to arrive Monday to evacuate Australian nationals and passengers from nearby countries, including New Zealand. Spanish officials said the Australian evacuation plane would be the final international flight departing Tenerife as part of the operation.
Norway also deployed a specialized ambulance aircraft to Tenerife staffed with personnel trained to transport patients with high-risk infectious diseases. Norway’s Directorate for Civil Protection said the aircraft is owned by the European Union but operated by Norwegian authorities.
Meanwhile, British military personnel were deployed to the isolated South Atlantic territory of Tristan da Cunha after one of the island’s 221 residents developed a suspected hantavirus infection linked to the cruise.
The patient had reportedly traveled aboard the Hondius before disembarking on the remote British overseas territory last month.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense said six British Army paratroopers and two medical clinicians parachuted onto the island Saturday from a Royal Air Force transport aircraft, which also delivered oxygen supplies and medical equipment.
Tristan da Cunha, considered Britain’s most remote inhabited overseas territory, lies approximately 1,500 miles from the nearest inhabited island, St. Helena. The volcanic island chain has no airport and is generally accessible only by a six-day sea voyage from Cape Town, South Africa.
Separately, Spanish health authorities announced Saturday that a woman in Alicante who was suspected of contracting hantavirus tested negative. Officials said she had traveled on the same flight as a Dutch woman who died in Johannesburg after leaving the cruise ship.
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