Passengers Trapped on Suspected Hantavirus Cruise En Route to Canary Islands
Passengers Trapped on Suspected Hantavirus Cruise En Route to Canary Islands
Cape Verde authorities bar disembarkation as MV Hondius heads toward the Canary Islands amid a hantavirus outbreak with multiple deaths and several ill crew members.
Passengers aboard the MV Hondius will not be allowed to disembark until the ship reaches the Canary Islands, about 900 miles northeast of its current position near Cape Verde. The voyage is expected to take three days, as authorities work to contain a suspected hantavirus outbreak on board. Three people linked to the voyage—two on the crew and a German national who died on board—have died since the journey began, with a British man still in hospital in South Africa. Cape Verdean health authorities have refused non-symptomatic passengers and crew permission to leave the vessel while medical assessments continue.
World Health Organization officials have been briefed and are guiding the response. The two symptomatic crew members—one British and one Dutch—are set to be flown to Europe for treatment as soon as possible. The ship’s operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, says two air ambulances are being dispatched to bring the sick crew members back, along with the partner of the German victim who died on May 2.
The health authority’s current working hypothesis suggests multiple possible transmission pathways, including environmental exposure to rodent-related waste and the potential for limited human-to-human transmission among contacts on board. The priority remains medical evacuation and containment, with limited risk to other passengers at this stage.
Onboard operations continue under careful supervision as authorities coordinate with the Netherlands and other parties to ensure swift and safe medevac if required. The ongoing situation underscores the challenges of responding to a suspected infectious outbreak at sea, where disembarkation is restricted while investigations proceed and medical care is arranged.
