‘Holding their breath’ to rescue passengers from the Hanta cruise ship, a hotspot for the coronavirus outbreak.
Spain has begun evacuating passengers from a cruise ship with a Hanta virus outbreak off the coast of Tenerife, following three deaths and several confirmed cases.
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| On May 10th, Spanish authorities began evacuating passengers from the luxury cruise ship MV Hondius, which has been found to have a Hanta virus outbreak and is anchored off the coast of Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. The photo shows a police boat approaching the cruise ship to begin the evacuation of passengers. |
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| The first group to be evacuated consisted of Spanish citizens. The passengers were divided into groups of five, traveling by small boat to shore before boarding buses to the local airport. Authorities said these passengers currently show no symptoms of the virus . They will be flown back to Madrid by Spanish military aircraft and transferred to a hospital for isolation, ensuring they have no contact with the community. |
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| Security forces and medical personnel are stationed at the port of Granadilla de Abona, Tenerife, Spain, awaiting passengers. |
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| The luxury cruise ship MV Hondius departed from the coast of Cape Verde (West Africa) for Spain on May 7th, after the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Union requested Spain’s assistance in evacuating passengers. Countries such as Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands said they had dispatched aircraft to pick up their citizens stranded on board. |
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| A person wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) transfers items onto the MV Hondius cruise ship at the port of Granadilla de Abona. The WHO reported that eight people who had been on board the ship have fallen ill, including three who died : a Dutch couple and a German citizen. Of the eight cases, six have been confirmed to be infected with the Hanta virus, and the remaining two are suspected cases. |
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| The European Public Health Agency assessed all passengers on board as a high-risk contact group and recommended a 42-day quarantine starting May 10th. However, the agency stated that the risk of community transmission remains low. In the photo, crew members on the cruise ship are wearing face masks and undergoing medical quarantine. |
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| The Spanish Ministry of Health stated that the ship had passed the necessary health checks. According to the agency, more than 500 cruise ships from Argentina and Chile – countries where the Hanta virus is prevalent – dock in European ports each year, but no similar outbreaks have ever occurred. “It is highly unlikely that an outbreak linked to this ship will spread,” the report stated. |
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| The Hantavirus is usually transmitted through rodents, but in rare cases it can also be transmitted from person to person. According to a report from the Spanish Ministry of Health, experts inspecting the ship found no rodents and assessed the sanitary and environmental conditions on board as suitable. “The likelihood of infection through contact with rodents on board is not high,” the report stated. |
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| Spanish officials said passengers would remain on board until evacuation planes, organized for specific national groups, arrived. Following Spanish citizens, the next group to disembark would be Dutch passengers. This flight also carried German, Belgian, and Greek citizens, according to Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia. Passengers from Türkiye, France, the UK, and the US would then be evacuated. |
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| Ms. Garcia said the final flight of the operation was departing from Australia and was expected to arrive on the afternoon of May 11th. This flight would pick up six passengers from Australia, New Zealand, and several other Asian countries. After all passengers disembark, approximately 30 crew members will remain to steer the ship to the Netherlands for disinfection. |
