Hantavirus-Stricken MV Hondius Arrives Off Tenerife for Passenger Evacuation

The MV Hondius arrived early Sunday off the coast of Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands, where it anchored offshore rather than docking as part of an international operation to evacuate more than 140 passengers and crew following a hantavirus outbreak.

A 1.6-kilometre security zone was enforced around the vessel at the Port of Granadilla. Spanish health authorities boarded to test everyone for symptoms before transferring people in small boats to shore, where sealed buses took them to the island's airport for repatriation flights.

All those on board are considered high-risk contacts. Europe's public health agency issued rapid scientific advice on Saturday stating the precaution was necessary even though none are currently showing symptoms. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived on the island Saturday with Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska to coordinate the effort.

He directly addressed local anxiety linked to the memory of the COVID-19 pandemic. >"I know you are worried. I know that when you hear the word ‘outbreak’ and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories surface that none of us have fully put to rest.

The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment. But I need you to hear me clearly: This is not another COVID. " — Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, May 9, 2026 (Sydney Morning Herald) Hantavirus usually spreads through inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people.

However the Andes virus variant identified in this outbreak may spread person-to-person in rare cases. Symptoms can appear between one and eight weeks after exposure. Three people have died since the outbreak began and five passengers who left the ship earlier have tested positive for the virus.

Health authorities across four continents are still tracing more than two dozen passengers who disembarked on April 24 without contact tracing, nearly two weeks after the first death.

Simon Vidal, 69, told reporters he opposed bringing the vessel from another country to the Canary Islands. Venezuelan immigrant Samantha Aguero, 27, said she felt unsafe despite the measures while also calling for empathy toward those on board. Garcia said the operation would proceed under maximum safety conditions.

Passengers will leave most belongings behind, taking only a small bag with essentials, a mobile phone, charger and documentation. Flights are scheduled for Sunday and Monday to complete the evacuation. Spanish nationals will be quarantined at a medical facility in Madrid.

Americans are to be quarantined at a medical centre in Nebraska after U.S. aircraft evacuate them. The ship itself will sail onward to the Netherlands for disinfection after some crew members and the body of a deceased passenger remain aboard. Dutch authorities plan home quarantine for six weeks for asymptomatic Dutch passengers, monitored by local health services.

The Netherlands may temporarily host passengers of other nationalities.

A second contact was placed in isolation on the island, which has no airstrip and is a British Overseas Territory. The outbreak has been linked to a landfill site in southern Argentina frequented by birdwatchers, where rodents carry the virus. Dutch public health officials confirmed that three people who shared a flight with an infected passenger who later died have tested negative for hantavirus.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's director of epidemic and pandemic management, said authorities aim to finish repatriation flights by Monday. Spain activated the EU civil protection mechanism for a medically equipped evacuation plane to stand by in case of any deterioration during the process.

The president of the Canary Islands said he would not be calm until all passengers and crew have left. Dutch officials and the ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions confirmed the April 24 departures occurred before hantavirus was verified on May 2. The MV Hondius had been on an expedition cruise that included stops in Argentina.