Seven weeks after the outbreak Hantavirus cruise ship back in the Netherlands
Around seven weeks after the hantavirus outbreak on the "Hondius", which went unnoticed for a long time, the cruise ship has returned to the Netherlands.
18.05.2026, 12:50
18.05.2026, 14:48
SDA
According to a dpa reporter, the ship, which is based in Vlissingen in the province of Zeeland, moored in the port of Rotterdam on Monday. According to the shipping company, a remaining crew of 25 seamen, a doctor and a nurse were on board.
The body of the German woman who died at sea on May 3 was also brought to Rotterdam. She is to be cremated in a crematorium not far from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, as the Rotterdam health department told the ANP news agency.
The body will be taken off the ship in protective clothing by a specialized mortician, said Yvonne van Duijnhoven, director of the department. "The ashes will then be handed over to the family." A total of three passengers from the "Hondius" died.
Remaining crew in quarantine
The 25 crew members were to be tested again in Rotterdam. Quarantine accommodation was set up for 23 of them - citizens of the Philippines (17), Ukraine (4), Russia (1) and Poland (1) - partly in containers and partly on board. Two Dutch crew members were allowed to go into quarantine at home.
None of the last people on board were found to have symptoms of a viral infection. According to the Rotterdam health authorities, the disinfection and cleaning of the ship will begin on Tuesday and is expected to last until Friday.
According to the Dutch shipping company Oceanwide Expeditions, the voyage, which was overshadowed for weeks by headlines about the virus outbreak, began on April 1 in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in Argentina. Initially, more than 170 passengers and crew members from 23 countries were on board.
On April 11, a Dutch passenger died. He was disembarked together with his wife on the island of St. Helena, which belongs to Great Britain. The woman died on April 26 in a hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa.
WHO: Virus probably came on board with Dutch couple
Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) assume that the chain of infection on the "Hondius" can be traced back to the Dutch couple who boarded the ship at the beginning of April. The man - presumably the first person to be infected - developed a fever, headache, abdominal pain and diarrhea on April 6.
According to previous findings, further human-to-human transmissions occurred on the ship in the course of this illness. As the symptoms are similar to those of various respiratory diseases, tests for the hantavirus were delayed. Only then were stricter isolation and monitoring measures put in place.
The "Hondius" reached the port of Granadilla in the south of Tenerife on May 10. People were brought home on special flights under special security precautions. In several countries, including Canada and France, infections with the virus were confirmed in fellow travelers. The WHO is assuming a total of eleven cases of infection so far.
