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MV Hondius Arrives Off Tenerife to Evacuate Passengers and Crew After Hantavirus Cases
The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius cruise ship, carrying 140 passengers and crew considered high-risk contacts after a hantavirus outbreak that killed three people, anchored near Tenerife on Sunday. Spanish authorities, with WHO support, began a tightly controlled disembarkation under a security perimeter, with passengers tested, ferried ashore and flown home for quarantine.
May 9, 8:11 AM·2m read33 sources
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The MV Hondius arrived early Sunday off the coast of Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands, where it anchored offshore as part of a coordinated international operation involving Spanish, Dutch and WHO authorities. A 1.6-kilometre security zone was enforced around the vessel at the Port of Granadilla.
Spanish health authorities boarded the ship 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 scheduled for Sunday and Monday. All passengers and crew are considered high-risk contacts even though none are currently showing symptoms, according to Europe’s public health agency, which issued rapid scientific advice on Saturday.
As of 8 May, a total of three passengers have died due to the hantavirus outbreak, according to WHO highlights posted on X. 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 before hantavirus was verified on May 2.
Dutch officials and the ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions confirmed those April 24 departures occurred prior to verification of the virus. The outbreak has been linked to a landfill site in southern Argentina frequented by birdwatchers, where rodents carry the virus.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived on the island Saturday with Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska. 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. The president of the Canary Islands said he would not be calm until all passengers and crew have left.
