The nearly 150 passengers and crew of the Hondius cruise ship, affected by a hantavirus outbreak that left three dead, began to be evacuated this Sunday in Tenerife under an extensive health operation supervised by the World Health Organization and the Spanish authorities, while international attention increases on the management of the emergency and the risks of spread of the virus.
The occupants of the boat, dressed in blue protective suits, descended in small groups from the boat to boats that took them to the port of Granadilla, on the Spanish island of Tenerife.
The cruise ship had set sail on April 1 from Ushuaia before the outbreak that caused the death of a Dutch couple and a German citizen was recorded.
“If everything continues as planned, and I am sure it will, at 7:00 p.m. (18:00 GMT) on Monday the ship will set sail for the Netherlands,” the director of Civil Protection of Spain, Virginia Barcones, told RTVE.
Passenger evacuation
Until 13:00 GMT, flights with Spanish and French citizens had departed, while the evacuation of passengers of other nationalities would continue during the rest of the day.
“Everything is going well,” declared French passenger Roland Seitre before boarding his flight. “Absolutely everyone is fine, there is nothing to object to,” he added about the operation.
The first to leave the cruise were 14 Spanish citizens, transferred to the Tenerife South airport in buses from the Military Emergency Unit (UME), equipped with protective separations between drivers and passengers.
Security measures
Upon arriving at the airport, the evacuees changed their protective suits and underwent a disinfection process before boarding a flight to Madrid, from where they were later transferred to a military hospital to complete quarantine.
The same operation will be applied to the rest of the passengers and crew.
The Minister of Health of Spain, Mónica García, reported that flights to the Netherlands, Canada, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States were planned for this Sunday. The last flight, bound for Australia, is scheduled for Monday.
