European states to send planes to evacuate citizens from hantavirus-hit cruise ship

Germany, France, Belgium, Ireland, and the Netherlands will send planes to evacuate their citizens from a cruise ship bound for Tenerife, which was hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak, Spain’s interior minister said in Madrid on Saturday. The European Union is sending two further planes for the remaining European citizens, Fernando Grande-Marlaska added. Earlier, the World Health Organisation (WHO) chief said he had arrived in Spain and would join government officials to oversee the disembarkation of a hantavirus-hit cruise ship in the Canary Islands. “I arrived in Spain, where I will join senior government officials in a mission to Tenerife to oversee safe disembarkation of the passengers, crew members and health experts from MV Hondius cruise ship,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X, stressing, “at this stage, there are no additional people on board showing symptoms of hantavirus.” He noted that the risk to the Canary Islands and the rest of the world “remains low”. Three passengers from the MV Hondius — a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman — have died, while others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents. The only hantavirus strain that can transmit from person to person — Andes virus — has been confirmed among those who have tested positive, fuelling international concern. The Dutch-flagged vessel, which has around 150 people on board, is expected to arrive at the Spanish Canary Island of Tenerife on Sunday. Special flights will then take passengers to their home countries. Earlier Friday, the WHO said that the hantavirus outbreak posed a minimal risk to the general public. “This is a dangerous virus, but only to the person who’s really infected, and the risk to the general population remains absolutely low,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters. A picture was emerging from MV Hondius where “even those who have been sharing cabins don’t seem to be both infected in some cases”, when one has fallen sick, he