CANARY ISLANDS: Spain said it has begun bringing Spanish passengers ashore from a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak on Sunday, with groups of nationals from other countries expected to follow soon after.
The vessel had anchored near the Spanish island of Tenerife earlier in the day as evacuation operations got underway.
Spanish nationals were the first to disembark, leaving the ship in small boats in groups of five before being taken to shore, where buses transported them to the local airport.
Authorities said the passengers are not showing any symptoms of the virus. They will board a Spanish military aircraft to Madrid and be taken to hospital for quarantine, with officials stressing they will have no contact with the public.
The luxury cruise ship had departed for Spain on Wednesday from the coast of Cape Verde after the World Health Organisation and the European Union requested that Spain oversee passenger evacuation following confirmation of a hantavirus outbreak.
No rodents were detected on the ship during health inspections, according to officials.
Countries including Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands confirmed on Saturday that they had dispatched aircraft to evacuate their citizens, although not all flights had arrived in the Canary Islands by Sunday morning.
The World Health Organisation said in an update on Friday that eight people who had already left the ship became ill, including three deaths — a Dutch couple and a German national. Of those eight, six cases have been confirmed as hantavirus, while two remain suspected.
The organisation recommended a 42-day quarantine period for all passengers from the ship starting Sunday.
Spain’s health ministry stated that the vessel had previously passed health inspections and noted that outbreaks linked to such cruise routes are extremely rare in Europe despite regular arrivals from South America, where the virus is more common.
Hantavirus is typically transmitted through rodents, but in rare cases it can spread between humans.
Experts who inspected the ship reported no rodent presence, and authorities said environmental conditions on board were considered appropriate, making rodent exposure unlikely.
Officials added that passengers will not leave the vessel until their designated evacuation flights arrive.
Dutch passengers are expected to be the next group to disembark, followed by coordinated flights carrying travellers from Germany, Belgium and Greece, Spanish Health Minister Mónica García said.
Subsequent evacuation flights will transport passengers from Turkey, France, the United Kingdom and the United States, she added while speaking in Tenerife.
The final evacuation flight is expected to carry passengers from Australia, New Zealand and other Asian countries, with officials describing it as the most complex leg of the operation.
Thirty crew members will remain aboard the ship to sail it to the Netherlands, where it will undergo full disinfection.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said ahead of the operation that all passengers should be considered high-risk contacts as a precaution.
It added that asymptomatic passengers would be repatriated under supervised conditions rather than through regular commercial flights, while symptomatic individuals should be prioritised for medical testing and care upon arrival.
The agency also noted that risk classifications could change once passengers reach their home countries.
Separately, British military personnel carried out an airborne medical operation on Sunday to assist a suspected hantavirus patient on the remote island of Tristan da Cunha, officials said.
A specialist team from the British Army’s 16 Air Assault Brigade parachuted onto the island in a coordinated drop supported by a Royal Air Force aircraft.
The operation delivered oxygen supplies and emergency medical aid after confirmation of a suspected infection in a British national linked to the cruise ship outbreak.
Tristan da Cunha, a volcanic island with around 220 residents, has no airstrip and can only be reached by sea.
Officials said the air drop was necessary due to critically low oxygen supplies and the urgency of medical needs on the island.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper praised the armed forces for what she described as an extraordinary operation.
The long-range mission involved a flight from RAF Brize Norton in England to Ascension Island, followed by a further 3,000-kilometre journey to Tristan da Cunha.
Earlier, the World Health Organisation said the hantavirus outbreak posed minimal risk to the general public, stressing that the virus is dangerous primarily to those infected, while overall public risk remains low.