Cruise Ship To Arrive In Spain’s Canary Islands Amid Hantavirus Scare
A cruise ship is set to reach Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday amid a hantavirus outbreak onboard, as authorities brace to evacuate 140 passengers and crew who were stranded in the sea for weeks.
At least eight people on board fell ill, and the the Dutch-flagged vessel is set to arrive at the Spanish island of Tenerife in West Africa coast, AP reported.
Spanish health officials said they will perform evacuations carefully. Virginia Barcones, the head of Spain’s emergency services, said the passengers will be taken to a “completely isolated, cordoned-off area.”
The United States and the United Kingdom plan to send planes to evacuate their citizens from the cruise ship.
The cruise operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said Friday none of the passengers onboard have symptoms of a possible infection. At least three people have died since the outbreak and five passengers who left the vessel have reportedly contracted the virus.
The Hantavirus is a rodent-borne infection which is rarely transmitted from person to person. The World Health Organization says the risk of a spread is low because the virus can’t easily be passed between people.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is expected to coordinate the evacuation of the passengers and the crew from the vessel, AFP reported quoting Spanish officials.
“I am in direct communication with captain Jan Dobrogowski and [WHO] colleague on board Dr Freddy Banza-Mutoka,” Tedros said in a post on X.
To the people of Tenerife,
My name is Tedros, and I serve as the Director-General of the @WHO, the @UN agency responsible for global public health. It is not common for me to write directly to the people of a single community, but today I feel it is not only appropriate, it is… pic.twitter.com/lx05ji4a79
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) May 9, 2026
The MV Hondius set sail from Ushuaia in southern Argentina. It was slated to halt in Antarctica and severalSouth Atlantic Ocean islands. The first reported infection was of a 70-year-old Dutch national, who had travelled across Argentina and Chile.
“The virus is not that contagious that it easily jumps from person to person,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier was quoted as saying by news agencies.
Health authorities across the globe are scrambling to track down and monitor at least two dozen passengers who left the vessel. The virus outbreak was first detected on May 2.
Iustitia Europa, a Spanish group that gained prominence by challenging COVID-era restrictions, has reportedly urged authorities to bar the MV Hondius from Spanish shores.
“The Canary Islands cannot become Europe’s health laboratory,” it posted on X.
Span’s Health Minister Monica Garcia has said the risk to the general public from the hantavirus outbreak remains low.
The Associated Press quoted several passengers on board the vessel as saying they feared ostracization once the vessel docks.
Spain’s officials said the passengers and crew will be evacuated in small boats to buses, once their repatriation flights are ready.
