SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, SPAIN / EuroWire / — Spanish authorities said 94 passengers and crew members had been evacuated from the cruise ship MV Hondius after a hantavirus outbreak triggered a multinational medical response, with officials moving people from 19 countries off the vessel in the Canary Islands on eight private aircraft. Health Minister Monica Garcia said the operation was nearing completion after the ship reached Tenerife, where emergency teams oversaw testing, isolation measures and onward transport for passengers returning to their home countries.
The evacuations followed a widening outbreak linked to the Dutch-flagged expedition ship, which departed Ushuaia on April 1 and later reported severe respiratory illness among passengers during the voyage. The World Health Organization said seven cases of Andes hantavirus had been confirmed by May 11, with two additional suspected cases, and three people had died. The World Health Organization has said the public health risk tied to the ship is moderate, while the risk at the global level remains low.
Spanish officials said repatriation flights were continuing after Sunday’s operation, with aircraft due from the Netherlands and Australia to collect additional passengers. By Tuesday, all passengers had disembarked, while the vessel departed Tenerife for the Netherlands carrying 25 crew members along with a doctor and a nurse. Dutch authorities said two planes carrying 28 passengers arrived in Eindhoven, where some travelers continued onward to their final destinations and others entered medical monitoring.
Hantavirus outbreak prompts international monitoring
The outbreak has drawn a broad cross-border response because Andes virus is the only hantavirus known to spread through limited person-to-person contact, usually after prolonged close exposure. Hantaviruses are more commonly associated with rodent transmission, but health agencies said this cluster appeared to involve onboard human transmission after an initial infection linked to earlier travel in South America. Passengers and crew identified as close contacts have been advised to monitor symptoms for up to 42 days after their last potential exposure.
Hospitals and public health agencies in several countries have begun receiving evacuees for testing, treatment and quarantine. In the Netherlands, Radboudumc said 12 staff members were placed in preventive quarantine after samples from an infected passenger were handled without updated safety protocols, though it said the risk of transmission was very low. In the United States, 18 passengers were flown back for monitoring and care, including one patient treated in a biocontainment unit in Nebraska and two people under observation in Atlanta.
Ship outbreak prompts wider tracing
The World Health Organization said Oceanwide Expeditions, the operator of MV Hondius, had reported 147 passengers and crew still aboard when the outbreak was formally notified on May 2, while another 34 people had already disembarked earlier in the journey. International contact tracing has since expanded to include former passengers, crew members and others who may have shared enclosed spaces or flights with confirmed or suspected cases. The World Health Organization has also issued technical guidance to national authorities on disembarkation, isolation, transport and follow-up procedures.
Spanish authorities have framed the Tenerife operation as a precautionary effort aimed at preventing further spread while allowing passengers to return under controlled conditions. Garcia said the evacuation involved close coordination between health officials, airports and foreign governments as planes cycled through the island. With the ship now sailing north and passengers dispersed to medical facilities and home monitoring programs across several countries, investigators are continuing to track cases linked to the voyage and verify the final extent of the outbreak.