By Corina Pons and Victoria Waldersee
TENERIFE/MADRID, May 10 (Reuters) – Spain said it had begun bringing Spanish passengers ashore from the cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak which anchored near Tenerife on Sunday, with groups of nationals from other countries to follow.
Spanish nationals were the first to disembark on small boats in groups of five and be taken to shore where they were transferred onto buses and taken to the local airport.
The passengers, who are not showing any symptoms of the virus, will board a flight back to Madrid on a Spanish military plane and taken to hospital to be quarantined, government officials said, emphasising that they will have no contact with members of the public.
The luxury cruise ship left for Spain on Wednesday from the coast of Cape Verde after the World Health Organization and European Union asked the country to manage the evacuation of passengers after the hantavirus outbreak was detected.
NO RODENTS DETECTED ON THE SHIP
Countries including Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, the U.S., UK and the Netherlands confirmed on Saturday they had sent planes to evacuate their citizens aboard, though local government officials in the Canaries said not all planes had arrived by Sunday morning.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said in an update on Friday that eight people no longer on the ship had fallen ill, including three who died – a Dutch couple and a German national; of the eight, six are confirmed to have contracted the virus, with another two suspected cases.
All passengers on the MV Hondius are considered high-risk contacts as a precautionary measure, Europe’s public health agency said late on Saturday as part of its rapid scientific advice, adding that the risk to the general population remains low.
The WHO has recommended a 42-day quarantine period for passengers aboard the ship starting from Sunday.
Spain’s health ministry added in a report saying the ship had passed the appropriate health checks: “There are more than 500 cruise ships a year that come from Argentina and Chile, which is home to the virus, and yet an outbreak of this illness has never happened in European territory so the possibility it happens in relation to this ship is remote.”
Hantavirus is usually spread by rodents but can in rare cases be transmitted person-to-person.
“According to the information provided by the experts who boarded the ship, the hygiene and environmental conditions are appropriate and they have not detected rodents so transmission by exposure to rodents on board is not likely,” the report read.
Passengers will not leave the boat until their allocated evacuation plane has arrived, Spanish officials said.
Passengers from the Netherlands will be the next group to leave the vessel, and their plane will also transport passengers from Germany, Belgium and Greece, Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said on Sunday.
After that, passengers from Turkey, France, the UK and U.S. will be evacuated, the minister added, speaking to reporters at the port of Tenerife.
“The final flight of the operation is departing from Australia… It is the most complex flight and is scheduled to arrive tomorrow afternoon,” Garcia said, adding that the final flight would pick up six people from Australia, New Zealand and other Asian countries.
Thirty crew members will remain on board and sail to the Netherlands where the ship will be disinfected.
(Reporting by Corina Pons, Victoria Waldersee, Leonardo Bennasetto, Miguel Pereira; Writing by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Aislinn Laing, Helen Popper, Philippa Fletcher)
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