Tenerife, Spain. Spain began evacuating passengers from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius anchored near Tenerife on Sunday, with health officials boarding the vessel for a final check before disembarkation.
Disembarkation process
Spain’s Health Ministry said Spanish nationals would be the first to leave the ship, disembarking on small boats in groups of five and being taken to shore. They will then be transferred onto buses and taken to the local airport.
Transport to Madrid and public contact measures
Government officials said passengers will fly back to Madrid on a Spanish military plane and will have no contact with members of the public.
Background to the evacuation request
The ship departed for Spain on Wednesday from the coast of Cape Verde after the World Health Organization and the European Union asked Spain to manage the evacuation following detection of a hantavirus outbreak.
Risk assessment and health checks
Europe’s public health agency said late on Saturday that all passengers are considered high-risk contacts as a precautionary measure, while the risk to the general population remains low. A report issued by Spain’s Health Ministry before the ship docked in Tenerife said the MV Hondius had cleared the appropriate health checks before anchoring.
“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 said.
International evacuations and flight coordination
Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands said on Saturday they had sent planes to evacuate their citizens, though Canary Islands local government officials said not all planes had arrived by Sunday morning. Spanish officials said passengers will not leave the ship until their allocated evacuation plane has arrived.
Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia said on Sunday that passengers from the Netherlands will be the next group to leave, and their plane will also transport passengers from Germany, Belgium and Greece.
How might the coordinated evacuations affect your travel plans in the Canary Islands?