Passengers from the affected cruise ship, MV Hondius, are expected to evacuate and be transferred to their home countries after an outbreak of hantavirus led to three deaths on board. Regional authorities have refused to allow the ship to dock, instead it will remain offshore while affected passengers are screened and evacuated in a window of opportunity. The cruise operator confirmed that all guests and a limited number of crew members are expected to leave the ship from around 7am GMT.
Passengers and some of the crew are expected to evacuate before the ship continues on its way to the Netherlands. A police boat operates next to the cruise ship MV Hondius at the port of Granadilla de Abona after being affected by a hantavirus outbreak, in Tenerife, Spain on May 10, 2026.
Add CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results.hit with a deadly hantavirus outbreak arrived in Spain's Canary Islands on Sunday , where most of the nearly 150 people on board will be evacuated and flown home after weeks at sea. The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius arrived near the Spanish port of Granadilla escorted by a Civil Guard vessel, AFP journalists reported, confirmed by data from the maritime tracking service VesselFinder.
Passengers and some of the crew are expected to evacuate before the ship, where an outbreak of hantavirus led to the deaths of three people, continues on its way to the Netherlands. Three passengers from the ship - a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman - have died, while others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents.
The only hantavirus type that can transmit from person to person - the Andes virus - has been confirmed among those who have tested positive, fuelling international concern.
"We classify everybody on board as what we call a high-risk contact," WHO's epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director Maria Van Kerkhove said Saturday. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who arrived in Spain on Saturday and is expected to oversee the ship evacuation, gave the same assurance and thanked the people of Tenerife for their solidarity.
"I need you to hear me clearly," Tedros wrote in an open letter to the people of Tenerife on Saturday:"This is not another COVID. " After arriving in Tenerife, he said he was confident the operation would be a success. "Spain is ready and prepared," he told reporters. The cruise ship MV Hondius arrives at the port of Granadilla de Abona after being affected by a hantavirus outbreak, in Tenerife, Spain on May 10, 2026.
At the port of Granadilla de Abona early Sunday morning, AFP journalists saw white tents had been sent up along the quay and the police had secured part of the port. Despite the situation, daily life appeared largely normal: some people were swimming, others shopping at the market or sitting at cafe terraces.
"There are worries there could be a danger, but honestly I don't see people being very concerned," said David Parada, a lottery vendor. Regional authorities have refused to allow the vessel to dock. Instead, it will remain offshore while passengers are screened and evacuated between Sunday and Monday - the only window health officials say the weather will allow.
Cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions said earlier that"all guests and a limited number of crew members" were expected to begin to leave the ship from around 7am GMT.
"Once disembarked, they will be transferred immediately to their allocated aircraft," the Dutch firm said. The WHO said Friday it had confirmed six cases out of eight suspected ones. There are no suspected cases remaining on the ship. The MV Hondius is sailing from Cape Verde, where three infected people had already been evacuated earlier in the week.
In Madrid, Spain's health and interior ministers insisted there would be"no contact" with the local population, and that passengers would leave"by nationality groups".
"All areas pass through will be sealed off," the interior minister said, adding a maritime exclusion zone would be in force around the vessel. The MV Hondius left Ushuaia, Argentina on Apr 1 for a cruise across the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Verde. Provincial health official Juan Petrina said there was an"almost zero chance" the Dutch man linked to the outbreak contracted the disease in Ushuaia based on the virus's incubation period, among other factors.
Health authorities in several countries have been tracking passengers who had already disembarked and anyone who may have come into contact with them. A flight attendant on the Dutch airline KLM, who came into contact with an infected passenger from the cruise ship and later showed mild symptoms, tested negative for hantavirus, the WHO said Friday.
The passenger - the wife of the first person to die in the outbreak - had briefly been on a plane bound from Johannesburg to the Netherlands on Apr 25, but was removed before take-off. Spanish authorities said a woman on that flight was being tested for hantavirus, having developed symptoms at home in eastern Spain. She is in isolation in hospital, said health secretary Javier Padilla.
British health authorities also said Friday there was a suspected case on Tristan da Cunha, one of the world's most isolated settlements with around 220 people. We know it's a hassle to switch browsers but we want your experience with CNA to be fast, secure and the best it can possibly be.
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