Early on Sunday the luxury cruise ship MV Hondius anchored near the Port of Granadilla in Tenerife, where Spanish authorities will conduct tests and manage the staged evacuation of passengers and some crew, Reuters footage showed.
Spanish health officials said none of the passengers has shown signs of infection. Before disembarkation, passengers will be tested to confirm they remain asymptomatic. Small boats will shuttle passengers from the anchored ship to shore, where sealed-off buses will then transport them to the island’s main airport. The airport is about a 10-minute drive from the port, according to Spanish officials, and passengers will board aircraft bound for their home countries.
Europe’s public health agency designated all passengers aboard the MV Hondius as high-risk contacts as a precaution, citing this determination in its rapid scientific advice issued late on Saturday. Spanish authorities indicated the evacuation is scheduled to begin between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. (0630-0700 GMT). Spanish nationals will leave the ship first, with other nationalities to follow in groups, government officials said.
Authorities said thirty crew members will remain on board after passenger evacuation and will sail with the vessel to the Netherlands for disinfection. The ship departed the coast of Cape Verde on Wednesday en route to Spain after the World Health Organization and the European Union requested that the country manage the passenger evacuation following the detection of the hantavirus outbreak.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived in Tenerife on Saturday evening to coordinate the ship’s arrival, accompanied by Spain’s interior minister, health minister, and its minister for territorial policy. The WHO reported on Friday that eight people had fallen ill, and three of those cases were fatal: a Dutch couple and a German national. Six of the eight are confirmed to have contracted the virus, with two additional suspected cases.
Hantavirus is typically transmitted by rodents, although in rare instances person-to-person transmission can occur. The WHO has assessed the risk to the broader global population as low, while describing the risk level for passengers and crew aboard the ship as moderate.
This operation combines maritime, public health and aviation coordination as officials seek to contain potential spread among a defined passenger population and to expedite repatriation in a controlled manner. The process will involve testing at the dock, marine transfers to shore by small boats, controlled bus transit to the nearby airport, and international flights to return passengers to their countries of origin.