Canadians on cruise ship hit by hantavirus on flight to Quebec
· Toronto Sun
Four Canadians who were among the passengers aboard the hantavirus-hit cruise ship are on a plane en route to Canada Sunday.
Wearing protective gear, the Canadians boarded a plane bound for the Saguenay-Bagotville Airport, near Quebec City.
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The passengers began disembarking from the MV Hondius after it was anchored at the port of Granadilla in the Canary Islands, Spain, just after 6 a.m., local time.
Spanish nationals were the first to depart from the ship, boarding a small boat that took them to shore, where they were transferred to buses, taking them to a military hospital in Madrid, Spain’s health ministry said.
There were approximately 140 people on the Hondius, with none of them exhibiting symptoms of the virus, according to the ship’s owner Oceanwide Expeditions, Spain’s health ministry, and the World Health Organization.
Those disembarking and personnel working at Granadilla were seen wearing protective gear during the evacuation process, including face masks, hazmat suits and respirators.
This isn’t another COVID: WHO director-general
“WHO experts on the ground are working with the Spanish Health Ministry on the epidemiological assessment of the passengers and coordinating charter flights with the Interior Ministry,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a post on X Sunday.
Later, speaking to reporters at a media briefing, Ghebreyesus again sought to reassure the public, stating, “This isn’t another COVID; and the risk to the public is low, so they shouldn’t be scared and they shouldn’t panic.”
“The entire operation is proceeding normally,” Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said.
The evacuation process involving passengers and crew from more than 20 nationalities is expected to last until Monday.
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Ship will then sail to the Netherlands
Three passengers have died after the Hondius was hit with the rodent-borne disease during its voyage from Argentina to Antarctica sometime after April 1, following several stops at isolated islands in the South Atlantic.
Two bodies of the deceased passengers, and five others who were infected with the virus had already left the ship before it docked in Tenerife.
Some crew, as well as the remaining passenger’s body, will stay on the ship, which will sail on to Rotterdam, Netherlands, where it will undergo disinfection, Spanish authorities said.
— with files from The Canadian Press and Associated Press