Hantavirus on the "Hondius" Infected people on board: WHO searches for passengers
The affected ship is in the port of Praia, Cape Verde.
Image: dpa
Health personnel boarded the Dutch-flagged ship on Tuesday.
Image: dpa
The MV Hondius is anchored off Cape Verde in the Atlantic Ocean.
Image: dpa
Nature expeditions and human contact may have led to the outbreak.
Image: dpa
Three passengers of the MV Hondius have died following a hantavirus outbreak.
Image: dpa
The affected ship is in the port of Praia, Cape Verde.
Image: dpa
Health personnel boarded the Dutch-flagged ship on Tuesday.
Image: dpa
The MV Hondius is anchored off Cape Verde in the Atlantic Ocean.
Image: dpa
Nature expeditions and human contact may have led to the outbreak.
Image: dpa
Three passengers of the MV Hondius have died following a hantavirus outbreak.
Image: dpa
After the outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship, there is hope for the people stuck on board. Meanwhile, the WHO is searching for the passengers of a plane that was carrying a woman who has since died.
06.05.2026, 20:18
06.05.2026, 20:19
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- Spain allows the cruise ship "Hondius" affected by hantavirus cases to call at the Canary Islands in agreement with the WHO and the EU.
- However, the head of the Canary Islands government, Clavijo, disagrees and wants to prevent the ship from entering because of the deaths.
- According to the WHO, there are seven infections and three deaths on board, including a Dutch couple and a German woman.
- Three people have since been taken off the ship.
- The Canary Islands are considered to be the nearest place with sufficient medical capacity, as Cape Verde is overwhelmed.
- Meanwhile, the WHO and South African authorities are searching for the passengers of a plane that was also carrying a traveler who has since died.
This article was last updated at 20:18.
After days of uncertainty on the cruise ship "Hondius", which was hit by the hantavirus outbreak, there is finally some hope for the almost 150 people on board. Spain has given the Dutch-flagged ship permission to call at a port in the Canary Islands. There are no Swiss passengers on board.
Three people have now been taken off the ship under medical escort, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They will be brought to the Netherlands by two special aircraft.
The three people are a 65-year-old German woman who was in close contact with the German woman who died on board. The 65-year-old is to be examined in a clinic in Düsseldorf. She has no symptoms so far. The other two people are crew members. According to the shipping company, a Briton (56) and a Dutchman (41) are ill and need urgent medical help.
The small cruise ship has been anchored off Cape Verde for days after being hit by the rare hantavirus. Three people have died so far. Several people have fallen ill.
Special clinic on Tenerife
According to Spanish Health Minister Mónica García, the remaining passengers will travel on the cruise ship to the Canary Island of Tenerife, where they are expected to arrive within three to four days. There is a clinic on Tenerife that specializes in epidemics. The crew and passengers will be examined there and receive medical treatment if necessary. They could later return to their respective home countries.
According to Spain, it had decided to grant the ship permission to dock in consultation with the WHO and the EU in accordance with international law and humanitarian principles.
Dispute in Spain over hantavirus ship
However, the planned arrival of the ship caused a stir in the Canary Islands. The President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, protested against the plans of the Spanish central government and the WHO. He complained about the "lack of transparency" and called for an "urgent meeting" with Spain's head of government Pedro Sánchez. However, Health Minister García rejected all fears and assured that the operation posed no risk to the Canary Islands. All remaining people on board are asymptomatic.
Spain will repatriate all those affected from abroad to their home countries via a European civil protection mechanism, explained García. The Spaniards will initially be taken to a military hospital in Madrid. There they will receive medical care and, if necessary, remain in quarantine for some time.
"Small health risk"
The WHO reiterated that the risk of infection is low. "At this stage, the overall public health risk remains low," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on X.
It is unclear what caused the infection and how the virus was able to spread further. The WHO suspects that the Dutch couple, who have since died, were initially infected on land before boarding the ship in Argentina. It has since been proven that at least two cases are the Andes variant of the virus. And with this variant, infections from person to person are also possible with long, direct contact.
Swiss passenger being treated in hospital
A passenger on the cruise ship "Hondius" tested positive for the hantavirus after returning to Switzerland. According to the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), he is being treated at Zurich University Hospital.
The man had returned from South America with his wife at the end of April. The wife had no symptoms. The FOPH also considers the risk to the population to be low. According to the FOPH, no other Swiss citizens were on the ship.
Deceased was "briefly" on board KLM aircraft
Meanwhile, the Dutch airline KLM has announced that a woman who has since died was "briefly" on board a passenger plane. However, due to the passenger's state of health at the time, the crew decided not to allow her to travel on this flight, KLM explained on Wednesday. The information referred to the flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam on April 25 at 11.15 p.m. (local time).
"After the passenger disembarked from the aircraft, the flight departed for the Netherlands," KLM added. The Dutch health authorities are currently contacting the passengers who would have been on board this flight "as a precautionary measure".
A first cruise passenger from the Netherlands died on board on April 11, according to cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions. His wife disembarked on April 24 on the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, flew to Johannesburg and died in a hospital there on April 26.
The WHO and South African authorities are now trying to find the 82 passengers and six crew members who were on the South African airline Airlink plane with the woman.
Good mood on board
The journey of the "Hondius" began a good seven weeks ago at the southern tip of Argentina - a dream trip for the passengers with numerous nature expeditions as far as Cape Verde. When a Dutchman died on April 11, it was initially an isolated incident. His wife leaves the ship to return to the Netherlands with her dead husband. But she also dies a good two weeks later in Johannesburg. On the same day, a British passenger on board falls seriously ill. He is now in intensive care in South Africa.
By May 2, at the latest, the alert level is set to one. Then the German woman on board dies. And two crew members fall ill.
From now on, the rules for the remaining 87 passengers and 61 crew members are the same as in the coronavirus era. Keep your distance and disinfect your hands, Belgian Helene (61) told the Belgian newspaper "Het Laatste Nieuws": "The circumstances are pretty good. We are of course worried about our sick passengers."
According to the shipping company, the mood on board is good. However, the uncertainty became too much for a young American Youtuber. He posted an emotional video on his account. "The uncertainty is now at its worst. We can only hope that we get home safely."
