The 140 passengers and crew on the MV Hondius will be ‘completely isolated’ and evacuated, say Spanish authorities.
A cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak is en route to Spain’s Canary Islands, where it plans to drop off 140 passengers and crew so they can be evacuated after weeks stranded at sea.
The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius vessel, on which at least eight people fell ill, is due to reach the Spanish island of Tenerife, off the coast of West Africa, early Sunday morning.
Passengers will be taken to a “completely isolated, cordoned-off area”, said the head of Spain’s emergency services, Virginia Barcones. World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will be on the island to help coordinate their evacuation, according to Spanish ministry sources cited by AFP.
While three people have died since the outbreak, and five passengers who left the ship are known to be infected with hantavirus, cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions said Friday there were no people with symptoms of a possible infection on board the ship.
