Hantavirus fear: Canary Islands President doesn’t want to let the ship dock | News

Canary Islands – Passengers and crew members have been stuck on the cruise ship MV Hondius, which is off the coast of Cape Verde, for days. On board: A deadly virus. Now docking at the nearest safe port could be in danger!

The plan was for the ship from the shipping company “Oceanwide Expeditions” to travel from its current berth off Africa towards the Canary Islands: “We are planning to go to the Canary Islands, either to Gran Canaria or Tenerife, which means a journey time of 3 days.” Everyone there should receive medical care and examinations. Spain had given its okay, but now there is resistance from Fernando Clavijo, President of the Canary Islands. He doesn’t want the ship with the hantavirus on board to dock at the islands.

Spain has allowed the cruise ship “Hondius” affected by hantavirus cases to call at a port in the Canary Islands. This decision was made in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the EU in accordance with international law and humanitarian principles, said the Ministry of Health in Madrid. The affected small cruise ship with a total of almost 150 people on board had set off from the south of Argentina and is currently anchored off Cape Verde.

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is closely examining the ship to determine which people urgently need to be evacuated from Cape Verde, the ministry said. The remaining passengers will take the cruise ship to the Canary Islands, where they are expected to arrive within three to four days.

So far, three passengers on the Dutch-flagged “Hondius” have died, an elderly Dutch couple and a woman from Germany. According to the ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions, seven passengers come from Germany, including the woman who died. A crew member also comes from Germany. The WHO is currently assuming a total of seven cases of the disease.

Canary Islands are the closest place with capacity for help

The World Health Organization has declared that Cape Verde – a small island state off West Africa – cannot carry out this operation itself, the Spanish ministry emphasized. The Canary Islands are therefore the closest place with the necessary capacity. Spain has a moral and legal obligation to help these people; including several Spanish citizens.

That is why the government in Madrid has also agreed that the doctor from the “Hondius”, who is in critical condition, will be flown to the Canary Islands on a hospital plane in the coming hours, the Ministry of Health said.

The exact port on the Canary Islands off the west coast of North Africa that the cruise ship will call at has not yet been determined. Once there, the crew and passengers should be examined, provided with medical care if necessary and returned to their respective home countries, the ministry said in a statement.

Three infected people are to be flown to the Netherlands

The Dutch Foreign Ministry had previously announced that three sick people should be taken off board the “Hondius” and flown to the Netherlands. One of them is a Dutchman. This should be done “as quickly as possible,” said the ministry.

The WHO suspects that the chain of infection started from the now deceased Dutch couple, who may have been infected on land before embarking in Argentina.