Cruise Ship Hit by Hantavirus Outbreak Docks in Tenerife

The Dutch-flagged cruise ship MV Hondius docked in Granadilla, Tenerife, in Spain’s Canary Islands on the morning of May 7, following a hantavirus outbreak that killed three people and sickened others. The ship was escorted by civilian security vessels.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Union requested Spain to accept the evacuation of passengers after the outbreak was detected. The ship left the coast of Cape Verde on May 6 to reach Tenerife.

The WHO reported at least eight people onboard had fallen ill, including three who died—a Dutch couple and a German national. Six of these cases were confirmed to be infected with the virus, while the remaining two were suspected.

The European public health agency stated that all passengers on the luxury cruise ship are considered high-risk and must take preventive measures. In Tenerife, passengers will undergo testing by Spanish health authorities to ensure they show no symptoms, after which they will be brought ashore via small boats.

Sealed buses will transport passengers to the island’s main airport, about a 10-minute drive away, where they will board flights back to their home countries. The evacuation was expected to begin between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. local time (06:30–07:00 GMT), according to Spanish authorities. Spanish nationals would disembark first, followed by other nationalities. Thirty crew members remain on board, and the ship will sail to the Netherlands for disinfection.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived in Tenerife on the evening of May 6, accompanied by Spain’s interior, health, and territorial policy ministers, to coordinate efforts. He reassured the public: 'This is not another Covid.' The WHO noted that those on board are classified as high-risk contacts, but the risk to the general public and residents of the Canary Islands remains low.

The MV Hondius departed from Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 for a transatlantic voyage to Cape Verde. An Argentine provincial health official stated that, based on the virus’s incubation period, it was 'virtually zero' that the Dutch man contracted the disease in Ushuaia.

Health authorities in multiple countries are monitoring passengers who left the ship and their contacts. A KLM flight attendant who had contact with an infected passenger and showed mild symptoms tested negative for hantavirus. That passenger, the wife of the first person to die in the outbreak, had boarded a flight from Johannesburg to the Netherlands on April 25 but was removed before takeoff and died the next day at a hospital in Johannesburg.

Spanish authorities reported that a woman on the same flight also underwent hantavirus testing after developing symptoms at her home in eastern Spain. Two Singaporeans who were on the ship tested negative but will remain in quarantine. UK health authorities also reported a suspected case in Tristan da Cunha, where the ship had called on April 15.