TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsCruise ship hit by hantavirus outbreak arrives in Tenerife
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
The cruise ship MV Hondius arrives at the port of Granadilla de Abona after being affected by a hantavirus outbreak, in Tenerife, Spain on May 10, 2026. (Reuters/Hannah McKay)
T
he cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak arrived early on Sunday near the Port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Reuters footage showed, where it will anchor for the evacuation of the passengers and some of the crew.
The passengers, none of whom has displayed signs of infection, will be tested by Spanish health authorities to ensure they remain asymptomatic and then transported to land in small boats, according to Spanish officials.
Sealed-off buses will then take the passengers to the Spanish island's main airport about 10 minutes away, where they will board planes heading to their respective countries.
All passengers on the luxury cruise ship MV Hondius are considered high-risk contacts as a precautionary measure, Europe's public health agency said late on Saturday as part of its rapid scientific advice.
The evacuation is expected to begin between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. local time, according to Spanish authorities.
Spanish nationals are set to disembark first with other nationalities to follow in groups, government officials said on Saturday. Thirty crew members will remain on board and sail to the Netherlands where the ship will be disinfected.
The ship left for Spain on Wednesday from the coast of Cape Verde after the World Health Organization and European Union asked the country to manage the evacuation of passengers after the hantavirus outbreak was detected.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived on Saturday evening in Tenerife in the Canary Islands, alongside Spain's interior and health ministers and its minister for territorial policy, to coordinate the arrival of the ship.
The WHO said on Friday that eight people had fallen ill, including three who died – a Dutch couple and a German national. Six of these people are confirmed to have contracted the virus, with another two suspected cases, the WHO has said.
Hantavirus is usually spread by rodents but can in rare cases be transmitted person-to-person. The WHO has said the risk to the wider global population is low, but the risk to passengers and crew on the ship is moderate.
