The first plane carrying passengers from the cruise ship affected by the Hantavirus left Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday for Madrid, where they will be transferred to a military hospital.
Spanish citizens were the first to leave the ship MV Hondius, which remains anchored off Tenerife, the largest island in the Spanish archipelago off the coast of West Africa. The ship arrived hours ago.
The Spanish Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization and the cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions said that none of the more than 140 people on board the Hondius showed symptoms of the virus.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus sought to reassure the public, reiterating on Sunday that the risk of an outbreak of the disease to the general public remains low.
However, survivors and workers at the port of Granadilla on Tenerife wore protective equipment during the evacuation, including face masks, protective suits and respirators.
Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said that the process is proceeding normally.
Passengers and some crew members from more than 20 nationalities will be evacuated on board the aircraft throughout the day from Sunday to Monday.
Spanish health authorities say that after arriving in Madrid, evacuees on the first plane will be placed under quarantine. Only 14 Spanish citizens on board will be quarantined in the country.
Authorities said passengers and crew members who disembark will be screened for symptoms, will not have any contact with local residents and will only be disembarked from the ship when evacuation flights are ready to take them to their destinations. Tedros and the Spanish Ministers of Health and Interior are supervising the operation in Tenerife.
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Pope Leo XIV on Sunday thanked the Canary Islands for allowing Hondius’ arrival.
Hantavirus usually spreads when people inhale contaminated rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people. But the Andean virus discovered in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually appear between one and eight weeks after exposure.
Three people have died since the outbreak, and five passengers who left the ship have been infected with Hantavirus, which can cause life-threatening illness.
Passengers and crew members who drop off leave their luggage behind and are only allowed to take a small bag containing essential items, mobile phone, charger and documents.
The Spanish authorities said that some crew members, in addition to the body of the passenger who died on board, will remain on board the ship, which will sail to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where it will undergo disinfection.
The cruise company said the expected sailing time to Rotterdam is about five days.
Evacuation and quarantine plans
The United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands will send planes to evacuate their citizens. The Americans on board the plane will be isolated at a medical center in Nebraska.
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that 29 people will be on board the chartered Dutch plane, including Dutch citizens and people of other nationalities.
The French Foreign Ministry said that five French passengers will be repatriated on Sunday, and will be hospitalized for 72 hours for observation, after which they will be isolated at home for 45 days.
British authorities say that passengers and crew in the United Kingdom will be hospitalized for observation once they return home.
Garcia said Australia will send a plane, expected to arrive on Monday, to evacuate its nationals and those of neighboring countries such as New Zealand. She said her plane would be the last to leave Tenerife.
Norway has sent an ambulance plane to Tenerife with personnel trained to transport patients with high-risk infections, the Civil Protection Directorate told public broadcaster NRK.
The ambulance plane is owned by the European Union, but operated by Norway.
Countries are monitoring suspected cases
British Army medics have parachuted into the remote South Atlantic region of Tristan da Cunha, where one of 221 residents is suspected of being infected with the Hantavirus.
The patient was a passenger on board the MV Hondius and disembarked last month.
The British Ministry of Defense said that a team of six paratroopers and two doctors jumped on Saturday from a Royal Air Force transport plane, which also dropped oxygen and medical equipment.
Tristan da Cunha is the most remote of Britain’s inhabited overseas territories, located about 1,500 miles (2,400 km) from the nearest inhabited island, St. Helena. The group of volcanic islands has no airstrip and can usually only be reached by boat on a six-day trip from Cape Town, South Africa.
Meanwhile, Spanish health authorities announced on Saturday that a Spanish woman in the southeastern province of Alicante, suspected of being infected, had tested negative for the Hanta virus.
The woman was a passenger on the same flight as the Dutch woman who died in Johannesburg after traveling on the cruise ship.
—Suman Nishadham reported from Madrid. Angela Charlton in Paris, Jill Lawless in London, and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.
& Edition 2026 The Canadian Press
