Passengers on hantavirus cruise disembark in Canary Islands as US evacuates Americans

Passengers from the cruise ship MV Hondius began returning home Sunday after Spanish authorities launched a large-scale evacuation from the Canary Islands following a hantavirus outbreak linked to three deaths.

The ship arrived near Tenerife after multiple passengers became infected with the rare virus, prompting an international health response. Three people have died so far, including a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman. Spanish officials began removing passengers from the Dutch-flagged vessel Sunday morning. Travelers wearing blue protective suits were transferred by smaller boats to the port of Granadilla before being taken by Spanish military buses to Tenerife South airport for repatriation flights.

The first flight carried 14 Spanish passengers to Madrid, where they will quarantine at a military hospital. “Everything is going well,” French evacuee Roland Seitre told AFP before departure, adding that “everyone was great” during the disembarkation.

A separate flight transported 27 passengers to the Netherlands, including citizens from Belgium, Greece, Germany, Guatemala, and Argentina, according to Spanish civil protection chief Virginia Barcones. Additional flights for Turkish, British, Irish, and American passengers were also scheduled.

Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said most of the ship’s nearly 150 passengers and crew were expected to be evacuated before a final repatriation flight to Australia on Monday. Health authorities have identified at least 10 affected Canadians. Four remained onboard before the vessel reached the Canary Islands, while six others were either no longer aboard or had close contact with infected individuals.

Canadian passengers departing Sunday were seen wearing protective equipment while boarding a flight bound for Saguenay-Bagotville Airport in Quebec.

The outbreak has drawn attention because the strain is the Andes virus, the only known hantavirus capable of human-to-human transmission. The World Health Organization said Friday it had confirmed six cases out of eight suspected ones and reported no remaining suspected cases aboard the ship.