Tenerife braced for arrival of stricken cruise ship MV Hondius
Updated ,first published
London/Tenerife: An Australian plane will arrive in the Canary Islands on Monday to rescue passengers from a cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak, after angry complaints that countries did not dispatch planes quickly enough to collect those on board.
The MV Hondius arrived at the port of Granadilla on Tenerife in the early hours of Sunday morning (around 16:00 on Sunday) amid great concern on the islands about the spread of the disease that killed three people on board.
In an emergency move on Saturday night, the Spanish government overturned a decision by Canary Islands President Fernando Clavijo to halt the arrival because he feared those who landed would remain on the islands.
Clavijo told reporters at the port on Saturday night that he had canceled his arrival permit because the planes were arriving too slowly, and named Australia and the Netherlands as two countries not moving fast enough.
MV Hondius has four Australians and one permanent resident on board. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said officials traveled to the Canary Islands to provide consular assistance and coordinate with partner countries.
Clavijo said some countries, including Australia, had said planes could arrive on Monday to pick up passengers, but he was concerned the planes would remain in port for too long, either on board or on land.
“We will not be complicit in something that endangers the health and security of our land,” he said in a Spanish translation of his remarks.
DFAT confirmed on Sunday night in Australia that it was expecting its plane to land in the Canary Islands on Monday.
“To protect Australians and support the safe return of those aboard MV Hondius, the Australian government is repatriating four Australian citizens and one permanent resident from Tenerife,” the statement said.
“A New Zealand citizen will also travel on the flight supported by the Australian government.”
The charter flight is expected to leave Tenerife around 5pm on Monday (Tuesday AEST) and will therefore meet requirements set by the Spanish government, despite concerns from the Canary Islands president.
Medical personnel will also be on board the plane, which will go to Perth and is expected to arrive on Tuesday.
Australian citizens and permanent residents aboard the Hondius are expected to return to their home states of NSW and Queensland, where quarantine arrangements are the responsibility of state governments.
The government said none of the passengers repatriated to Australia showed symptoms of the virus.
With the ship’s arrival in doubt, the Spanish government issued an official order late Saturday to ensure that the 147 passengers and crew could be removed and treated.
Ana Núñez Velasco, director general of the Spanish Merchant Navy, signed the order to lift the ban, which Clavijo had announced only a few hours earlier.
Passengers, none of whom show signs of infection, will be tested by Spanish health authorities to ensure they are asymptomatic, then transported ashore by small boats, according to Spanish officials.
Sealed buses will then take passengers to the Spanish island’s main airport, about 10 minutes away, where they will board planes to their home countries. There are people from more than 20 different nationalities on the ship.
All passengers and crew were considered high-risk contacts as a precautionary measure, the European public health agency said in a statement late Saturday as part of its rapid scientific advice.
Earlier, the head of the World Health Organization had attempted to reassure worried Tenerife residents by issuing a direct message that the virus was “not another Covid-19”.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived on the island on Saturday to coordinate the operation, along with Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska.
In his statement to the people of Tenerife, Tedros said, “I know you are worried. I know that when you hear the word ‘epidemic’ and watch a ship sailing towards your shores, memories come to the surface that none of us can fully relieve. The pain of 2020 is still real and I do not ignore it for a moment.”
“But you need to hear me clearly: This is not another Covid-19. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low. My colleagues and I have said this clearly, and now I will tell you again.”
Extensive preparations were made to welcome Hondius at Granadilla, where the ship would not be allowed into the harbour. A 1.6 kilometer security zone will be created around the ship.
Meanwhile, British Army medics parachuted onto Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic to treat a Briton with hantavirus in London this weekend. Telegram reported.
A team of six paratroopers and two military doctors jumped from an RAF A400 Atlas plane early on Saturday and landed on the remote island, which has no runway.
The newspaper said that the British citizen, whose hantavirus was confirmed, disembarked from Hondius in Tristan da Cunha, where they lived. It was stated that it was understood that a second contact was also isolated on the island, which is a British Overseas Territory.
Hantavirus can cause life-threatening illness. It is usually spread when people breathe in contaminated remains of rodent feces and is not easily transmitted between people. However, the Andean virus detected in the MV Hondius outbreak can spread between humans in rare cases. Symptoms usually appear one to eight weeks after exposure.
While 3 people died in the epidemic, hantavirus was detected in 5 passengers who left the ship.
Fears of neighborhood residents
Ahead of the ship’s arrival, some Tenerife residents said they were worried, while some Spanish passengers on the cruise ship also expressed concerns about stigma.
“Let me tell you, I didn’t like it very much,” said resident Simon Vidal, 69. “Anyone can say what they want. Why did they have to bring a boat here from another country? Why not from somewhere else? Why did they bring it to the Canary Islands?”
Others said they empathized with the passengers on the ship but were still concerned.
“The reality is that the situation is very worrying,” said Samantha Aguero, a 27-year-old Venezuelan immigrant.
“We feel a little insecure. We don’t feel like it because there are 100 percent security measures that will welcome this. After all, this is a virus and we experienced this during the pandemic as well. But we also need to empathize.”
Garcia said the disembarkation in Tenerife would take place “under maximum security conditions.”
Authorities aim to complete evacuation flights on Sunday and Monday, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s director of epidemic and pandemic management, said in a briefing on Saturday.
Britain and the United States agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens. The Americans will be quarantined at a medical center in Nebraska.
All Spanish passengers will be transported to a medical facility where they will be quarantined, Garcia said. Cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions said there were 13 Spanish passengers and one Spanish crew on board.
Just a small bag
Those disembarking will leave their luggage behind and will be allowed to take only a small bag containing essential items, a cell phone, charger and documents, Garcia said.
The minister said that the body of some crew members, as well as a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will set sail for the Netherlands, for disinfection.
Health authorities on four continents are tracking and monitoring more than two dozen passengers who got off the plane before the deadly outbreak was detected. They were also scrambling to track down others who might have come into contact with them.
Dutch officials and the ship’s operator said that on April 24, nearly two weeks after the first passenger died on the ship, more than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship without contact tracing.
Health authorities first confirmed hantavirus in a traveler on May 2.
Reuters via AP
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