Three passengers have died Cruise ship with hantavirus allowed to call at a port in the Canary Islands
The passengers of the cruise ship "Hondius" cannot disembark on the Cape Verde Islands.
Image: Keystone
Hantavirus has been detected in two people. There are also other suspected cases of hantavirus on board.
Image: Keystone
The "MV Hondius" is anchored off Cape Verde on Tuesday evening.
Image: Keystone/AP Photo/Misper Apawu
So far, three passengers of the "Hondius" have died, a Dutch couple and a German. (symbolic picture)
Image: Keystone
A deserted deck on the cruise ship. (May 4, 2026)
Image: Keystone/Qasem Elhato via AP
The shipping company Oceanwide Expeditions, which operates the "MV Hondius", is based in Vlissingen in the Netherlands.
Image: Keystone/EPA/Provicom
The passengers of the cruise ship "Hondius" cannot disembark on the Cape Verde Islands.
Image: Keystone
Hantavirus has been detected in two people. There are also other suspected cases of hantavirus on board.
Image: Keystone
The "MV Hondius" is anchored off Cape Verde on Tuesday evening.
Image: Keystone/AP Photo/Misper Apawu
So far, three passengers of the "Hondius" have died, a Dutch couple and a German. (symbolic picture)
Image: Keystone
A deserted deck on the cruise ship. (May 4, 2026)
Image: Keystone/Qasem Elhato via AP
The shipping company Oceanwide Expeditions, which operates the "MV Hondius", is based in Vlissingen in the Netherlands.
Image: Keystone/EPA/Provicom
After several cases of hantavirus and three deaths, the cruise ship "Hondius" has been allowed to call at a port in the Canary Islands. What Spain and international authorities are now planning.
06.05.2026, 05:14
06.05.2026, 05:44
SDA
Spain has allowed the cruise ship "Hondius", which has been affected by hantavirus cases, to call at a port in the Canary Islands. This decision was made in consultation with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the EU in accordance with international law and humanitarian principles, the Ministry of Health in Madrid announced. The small cruise ship in question, with a total of just under 150 people on board, had set sail from the south of Argentina and is currently anchored off Cape Verde.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is examining the ship in detail to determine which people urgently need to be evacuated from Cape Verde, the ministry added. The remaining passengers will travel on the cruise ship to the Canary Islands, where they are expected to arrive within three to four days.
Canary Islands are the closest place with capacity for aid
The World Health Organization has stated that Cape Verde - a small island state off the coast of West Africa - cannot carry out this mission itself, the Spanish ministry emphasized. The Canary Islands were therefore the closest place with the necessary capacities. Spain has a moral and legal obligation to help these people, including several Spanish citizens.
For this reason, the government in Madrid has also agreed that the doctor from the "Hondius", who is in a critical condition, will be flown to the Canary Islands on a hospital plane in the coming hours, the Ministry of Health added.
The exact port on the Canary Islands off the west coast of North Africa that the cruise ship will call at has not yet been determined. Once there, the crew and passengers will be examined, given medical treatment if necessary and returned to their respective home countries, according to the ministry's statement.
So far, three passengers of the Dutch-flagged "Hondius" have died, an elderly Dutch couple and one person from Germany, who according to the ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions is a woman. The WHO currently assumes a total of seven cases.
Three infected people are to be flown to the Netherlands
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs had previously announced that three infected people were to be taken off the "Hondius" and flown to the Netherlands. One of them is Dutch. This should be done "as quickly as possible", the ministry said.
The WHO suspects that the chain of infection started with the now deceased Dutch couple, who may have been infected on land before embarking in Argentina.
