Hantavirus Cruise Ship Evacuation Underway in Spain
A Dutch-flagged cruise ship carrying a deadly hantavirus outbreak has arrived in Spain's Canary Islands, where passengers are being evacuated to their home countries. The outbreak has claimed three lives with six confirmed cases and two suspected cases.
Ship Arrives in Canary Islands
The cruise ship at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak arrived early Sunday off the Spanish island of Tenerife, where the process of sending most passengers back to their home countries will get underway.
Outbreak Statistics
Six confirmed cases of hantavirus and two suspected cases have been linked to the outbreak on the ship, the World Health Organization said Friday. Three of those people have died, officials said, including two who died aboard the ship.
Evacuation Process
Passengers have been coming off the ship on boats "in small numbers, placed on buses and spaced apart, just to make sure that — even though all of them are asymptomatic, they have no symptoms right now — that they don't present any additional new risk to each other," WHO medical epidemiologist Boris Pavlin told NBC News.
American Passengers
Passengers on their way to evacuation flights from Spain's Canary Islands. Passengers are evacuating the Hondius by country. Two of the 17 Americans — one who tested positive and one with mild symptoms — are traveling in "biocontainment units." The Dutch-owned ship, along with some crewmembers and the passengers' luggage, will continue on the five-day journey to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, according to cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions.