On the Canary Island of Tenerife, the repatriation of passengers from the cruise ship MV Hondius, which was struck by the hantavirus last month, began on Sunday. The first Dutch travelers are expected at Eindhoven airport on Sunday evening.
The ship of shipping company Oceanwide Expeditions from Vlissingen arrived in the port of Granadilla on Tenerife on Sunday morning at 6:30 am. The evacuation of around 150 passengers from cruise ship MV Hondius – from more than twenty different countries – is a complicated logistical operation, involving many countries.
Spanish Health Minister Mónica García announced on Sunday in Tenerife that the Spanish passengers – fourteen in total – were first brought ashore by zodiacs (motor boats). They flew to Madrid on a military plane. Later in the afternoon the people followed who were taken to Eindhoven by plane. The evacuees are transported to the airport by bus and accompanied by the police, a ride that takes about fifteen minutes. Roads on the island have been closed off to prevent further unrest among the population. The operation is proceeding in an orderly manner, García said.
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According to the minister, passengers from Germany, Belgium and Greece and some crew members would also be transported on board the aircraft to the Netherlands. By 5 p.m wrote Minister of Foreign Affairs Tom Berendsen said on X that the aircraft had taken off with 26 passengers and crew members from the ship on board, including eight Dutch people. The ministry previously estimated that 29 people would fly.
Home quarantine
“After arrival, there will be an intake, blood will be taken for diagnostic testing and you will be asked to complete a short questionnaire. The Dutch passengers will be brought home by safe professional transport, after which they will go into home quarantine. The local GGD will then maintain contact with them,” said a spokesperson for the ministry. People who do not live in the Netherlands are accommodated in a quarantine location organized by the GGD. The Dutch passengers must be in home quarantine for six weeks after returning home.
All passengers undergo a medical check before the flights. According to Minister García, no one on board the Hondius has symptoms of the hantavirus.
Three passengers have previously died from the virus: a German woman and a Dutch couple from Haulerwijk in Friesland. The man and woman were both 69 years old.
The first passengers will be picked up from the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius on Sunday in the port of Granadilla on Tenerife.
Photo RAMON VAN FLYMEN / ANP
Several flights depart from Tenerife on Sunday to the countries of origin of the passengers, including France, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Turkey and Ireland. The last flight is scheduled for Monday. It will go to Australia, the Spanish minister said. According to Spanish media, the Netherlands will also send a plane on Monday afternoon to pick up the group that has not been repatriated by their own countries. A spokesperson for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not confirm this on Sunday afternoon. According to the shipping company, the travelers’ luggage remained on board and will be returned later.
If Spain fails to make agreements with all countries involved, the responsibility for repatriation lies with the Netherlands, because the MV Hondius sails under the Dutch flag. It could therefore be that the Netherlands temporarily receives people with a different nationality and places them in quarantine, the cabinet wrote on Friday evening in a letter to Parliament. If someone does develop symptoms, a European aircraft is available for a medical evacuation. This plane has provisions for High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID). There is also one HCID bed available on Tenerife.
Crew members
A small group of crew members remain on board so that the Hondius can sail to Rotterdam. Also still on board is the body of a passenger who died of the virus. The ship will be cleaned in Rotterdam. That journey will take about five days, the shipping company reported on Saturday evening.
Most of the crew on board the MV Hondius – a total of 38 people – are from the Philippines. They usually work as sailors and in the ship’s restaurant. Hans Leo Cacdac, as minister responsible for Filipino migrant workers, has announced that the Philippine government will do everything in its power to bring the Filipino employees of the Hondius back to their own country. The Philippines has not said it will send a special plane to bring people back. The intention for the time being seems to be to allow fellow countrymen to return via regular flights.
This article was updated at 6:10 PM on Sunday. The statement by Minister of Foreign Affairs Tom Berendsen on X about the departure of the plane with passengers and crew members from the cruise ship has been added.
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