The first evacuation flight carrying 13 passengers and one crew member from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius has departed Tenerife for Madrid, where the group will undergo mandatory quarantine as part of an international emergency health operation.
The flight marks the beginning of several planned evacuations scheduled over the next two days as authorities work to remove more than 140 passengers and crew members representing 20 nationalities from the vessel.
The MV Hondius arrived off the Spanish island of Tenerife after a hantavirus outbreak was reported onboard following the ship’s departure from Argentina, triggering a multinational medical and security response.
Passengers have been transferred from the anchored vessel using smaller launch boats, while heavily protected emergency personnel wearing gas masks and protective suits supervised the disembarkation procedures.
Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said the evacuation operation was proceeding normally as medical teams boarded the ship to begin an epidemiological investigation into the outbreak.
Dutch authorities are expected to evacuate another group of passengers, including citizens from the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Greece, on a special flight bound for Eindhoven.
German firefighters are reportedly preparing to transport four German nationals onward to Frankfurt, while any suspected symptomatic cases may be transferred to a specialist clinic in Düsseldorf, dw.com reports.
The situation intensified after reports confirmed that a 65-year-old woman who had traveled aboard the vessel and had contact with a passenger who later died is currently receiving treatment in Germany.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom launched a dramatic military medical mission after a British passenger suspected of carrying the virus disembarked on the remote island of Tristan da Cunha.
British forces parachuted specialist medical teams, oxygen supplies and emergency equipment onto the isolated island in what officials described as a high-risk rescue operation.
The unfolding crisis has placed international health agencies and multiple governments on high alert as efforts continue to contain the outbreak and safely evacuate passengers from the quarantined cruise ship.
