Tenerife braces for race-against-time operation to evacuate 140 from MV Hondius
Key takeaways
- The Dutch-flagged vessel, carrying more than 140 people and one body still on board, will anchor off the port of Granadilla between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m. local time.
- Without that opportunity, the procedure could not resume until late May.
- Passengers will be transferred by small boat to the port and from there, in sealed vehicles, to Tenerife South Airport, ten minutes away.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Spain faces a complex international operation in Tenerife on Sunday to evacuate the passengers and crew of the cruise ship MV Hondius, struck by a hantavirus outbreak that has left three dead and five laboratory-confirmed cases among the eight identified by the World Health Organization. The Dutch-flagged vessel, carrying more than 140 people and one body still on board, will anchor off the port of Granadilla between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m. local time.
The operational window is narrow. Canary Islands government spokesman Alfonso Cabello warned that the evacuation must be completed between Sunday and Monday, since worsening sea conditions would force the ship to resume sailing if the operation runs over. Without that opportunity, the procedure could not resume until late May.
The cruise will not dock. Passengers will be transferred by small boat to the port and from there, in sealed vehicles, to Tenerife South Airport, ten minutes away. Aircraft chartered by their respective countries will repatriate them with no contact with the local population. The United States and the United Kingdom have committed planes for their nationals. A Spanish military aircraft will fly the fourteen Spanish passengers to the Torrej n de Ardoz airbase, from where they will go into quarantine at the G mez Ulla Defense General Hospital in Madrid.