Spain has started evacuating passengers from a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship anchored near Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
Health Minister Mónica García stated that the operation was “proceeding normally” and that all passengers on board the MS Hondius were still asymptomatic.
With a long camera lens, passengers could be seen wandering around on the deck of the ship, or at the windows, all in white medical face masks, as the first evacuation took place.
Several sat socially distanced on the first evacuation boat, filming and taking photos as they approached land, where they were met by officials in white protective suits.
The ship’s passengers are being divided into groups by nationality to be ferried to shore. They are being taken by bus to the local airport, where charter planes will repatriate them to their home countries.
Footage of passengers on the airport tarmac showed staff involved in the operation pulling white hazmat suits over passengers’ clothes, then hosing them down next to the stairs of the plane before boarding.
Fourteen Spanish nationals will be the first to disembark, then those flown out by the Netherlands, including Dutch, Greek and German passengers, and part of the crew.
Other flights are poised to depart after that, including to the UK and US. The last evacuation flight is expected to leave for Australia on Monday.
The sun rose to reveal it anchored offshore, with military police boats on patrol and a major operation unfolding on land to help more than 100 passengers and crew disembark.
At about 07:00 (06:00 GMT), medical teams went on board to check everyone for signs of the virus.
There have been meticulous preparations to receive the ship, which won’t be permitted to reach shore: a security perimeter of one nautical mile was enforced around it as it approached the island.
Dozens of intensive care specialists are on stand-by at the Candelaria hospital in Tenerife in case anyone from the Hondius becomes seriously ill during the transfer. A strict isolation facility has one bed fully equipped to deal with infectious diseases, complete with testing kit and a ventilator.
“We are absolutely ready,” chief intensive care doctor Mar Martin told me on the unit, where large numbers of protective suits, masks and gloves are already piled up for staff.
“We’ve never seen [hantavirus] before – but it’s a virus, with some complications, just like we manage every day. We are fully trained for that.”
