Plane Carrying 18 Americans From Hantavirus-Affected Cruise Ship Departs Spain

The plane carrying the 18 Americans who disembarked from the MV Hondius departed Spain on May 10, 2026, and is heading back to the United States. The group includes 17 U.S. citizens and one British national who is a resident of the U.S. They arrived at Tenerife airport in the Canary Islands after leaving the ship earlier that day.

m. local time but could have departed earlier. Passengers onboard the MV Hondius began disembarking on May 10 in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. They were expected to continue on to charter flights back to their home countries. The 17 Americans aboard the ship have begun the process of leaving the vessel.

As of May 9, none of the American passengers had tested positive for hantavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A CDC official said on May 9 that the federal government does not plan to have the repatriated American cruise ship passengers quarantine upon arrival in the U.S. The passengers will be flown to the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha, Nebraska.

The unit is managed by Nebraska Medicine and the University of Nebraska Medical Center and is the only federally funded quarantine unit in the U.S. Officials with the National Quarantine Unit said during a press briefing on May 9 that there is not yet a defined period for how long the passengers would remain at the unit.

The total number of confirmed and probable cases of hantavirus onboard the ship is eight, including two people confirmed to have died from the virus and one person who remains suspected to have died from the virus. If a symptomatic French passenger is confirmed positive, that would bring the total to nine cases.