Hantavirus Cruise Ship Evacuation Begins Off Tenerife
Spain has begun evacuating passengers from a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship anchored near Tenerife, the BBC reported Sunday, in a complex operation officials are calling unprecedented. The MS Hondius arrived at the industrial port of Granadilla before dawn, roughly a month after the outbreak first claimed a passenger’s life on board.
Evacuation Procedure Takes Shape
Spanish Health Minister Mónica García confirmed the operation was proceeding normally. All remaining passengers on board were still asymptomatic as of Sunday morning. Medical teams boarded the vessel around 07:00 local time to screen everyone for symptoms before transfers began.
Passengers are being separated by nationality and ferried ashore in small boats. Charter aircraft are stationed at Tenerife’s airport to repatriate travellers to their home countries. Spanish nationals are departing first, bound for Madrid and a mandatory quarantine at the Gómez Ulla military hospital. Dutch, Greek and German passengers follow, then flights to the United Kingdom and United States. The final repatriation flight, bound for Australia, is expected to depart Monday.
The ship itself is not permitted to dock directly. A one-nautical-mile security perimeter was enforced as it approached the island. Dozens of intensive care specialists are on standby at Tenerife’s Candelaria hospital. The facility has prepared an isolation bed fully equipped with testing equipment and a ventilator.
Background on the Andes Outbreak
The specific strain involved is the Andes variant of hantavirus, a rare form linked to a landfill site at the southern tip of Argentina. The area is popular with birdwatchers and is known to harbour rodents that carry the virus. Person-to-person transmission is uncommon with most hantavirus strains, but three passengers have died during this outbreak, making it a significant public health event. The incubation period can extend up to nine weeks, complicating decisions about quarantine duration in Spain and other receiving countries.
WHO Backs Spanish Response
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus travelled to Tenerife to oversee disembarkation proceedings. He praised Spanish authorities for what he described as a solid and effective response. Acknowledging public anxiety rooted in Covid-era trauma, he emphasised that the risk of broader community spread remained low given the virus’s characteristics and the precautions in place.
Local opposition was not absent. Port workers staged a noisy protest outside the regional parliament Friday, questioning whether safety protocols were robust enough. The operation faced a further late setback when the president of the Canary Islands initially said he would refuse to allow the vessel entry, before the carefully arranged plans ultimately held.
Read Next: What Is Hantavirus and Why Does the Andes Strain Matter?
