Madrid: Spain started evacuating passengers from the Hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius on Sunday. The vessel is now anchored near Tenerife.
The country’s health ministry confirmed that officials have boarded the ship to conduct a final check and begin disembarking passengers.
There are two Indian nationals on the luxury vessel – both of them members of the crew – the Government of India confirmed on Saturday. The two are asymptomatic and have been kept under observation, officials in New Delhi said.
However, their return to India will take time as Spanish nationals will be the first to disembark on small boats in groups of five and taken to shore where they will be transferred onto buses and taken to the local airport, as reported by Deccan Herald.
A Spanish military aircraft will then fly them to Madrid, government officials said, emphasising that they will have no contact with members of the public.
The cruise ship departed the coast of Cape Verde for Spain on Wednesday after the World Health Organization and European Union asked the country to manage the evacuation of passengers.
As a precautionary measure, all passengers on the luxury cruise ship are considered high-risk contacts, Europe’s public health agency said late on Saturday as part of its rapid scientific advice, adding that the risk to the general population remains low.
Before the ship layed anchor at Tenerife, a report issued by Spain’s health ministry confirmed the ship had cleared the appropriate health checks.
“According to the information provided by the experts who boarded the ship, the hygiene and environmental conditions are appropriate and they have not detected rodents so transmission by exposure to rodents on board is not likely,” the report read.
Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, the US, UK and the Netherlands confirmed on Saturday they have sent planes to evacuate their citizens on board, though local government officials in the Canaries said not all planes had arrived by Sunday morning.
Passengers will be allowed to disembark only after their allocated evacuation plane has arrived, Spanish officials said.
Passengers from the Netherlands will be the next group to leave the vessel, and their plane will also transport passengers from Germany, Belgium and Greece, Spanish health minister Monica Garcia said on Sunday.
Passengers from Turkey, France, the UK and US will be evacuated thereafter, the minister added, speaking to reporters at the port of Tenerife.
“The final flight of the operation is departing from Australia… It is the most complex flight and is scheduled to arrive tomorrow afternoon,” Garcia said, adding that the final flight would pick up six people from Australia, New Zealand and Asian countries.
Thirty crew members will remain on board and sail to the Netherlands where the ship will be disinfected.
