Hantavirus: Passengers leave Tenerife on evacuation flights

https://p.dw.com/p/5DLmQ

AdvertisementSkip next section What you need to know

What you need to know

• The virus-hit MV Hondius has arrived off the Spanish port of Granadilla, Tenerife

• The US, the UK and several European countries dispatched aircraft to evacuate their citizens

• None of the remaining passengers or crew had shown signs of symptoms, until one French national did during a flight from Tenerife to France

• The head of the World Health Organization said the risk posed by the hantavirus outbreak 'remains low'

Stay with us for the latest news on the MV Hondius hantavirus outbreak:

Skip next section WATCH: How the MV Hondius hantavirus outbreak is tracked worldwide05/11/2026May 11, 2026

WATCH: How the MV Hondius hantavirus outbreak is tracked worldwide

Dozens of passengers left the MV Hondius before the deaths of two people were linked to the hantavirus's Andes strain. Epidemiologist, Professor Anne Rimoin, discusses how individuals who may have been exposed are being traced. 

How the MV Hondius hantavirus outbreak is tracked worldwide

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https://p.dw.com/p/5DYcVSkip next section WATCH: Spain flies passengers home from hantavirus-hit ship05/10/2026May 10, 2026

WATCH: Spain flies passengers home from hantavirus-hit ship

Nearly four weeks after a deadly hantavirus outbreak on a luxury cruise ship, an international evacuation operation is under way. Authorities from 23 countries are coordinating the evacuation as health agencies enforce strict precautions.

Spain flies passengers home from hantavirus-hit ship

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https://p.dw.com/p/5DYcTSkip next section Netherlands plane returns with 26 on board, including 4 German passengers05/10/2026May 10, 2026

Netherlands plane returns with 26 on board, including 4 German passengers

A transport plane from Tenerife to Eindhoven military airport landed late on Sunday. 

It was carrying 26 passengers or crew from the MV Hondius, including eight Dutch nationals and four Germans. 

Specialists, including from the Red Cross, were awaiting the plane's arrvial. The four Germans were set to be transported to Frankfurt. 

"Relieved that they are safely on their way after a period of uncertainty and that the other passengers are travelling home via other routes," Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen had said soon after the plane took off, thanking Spain and other partners for their cooperation.

According to authorities in the Netherlands all the passengers will be quarantined for around six weeks. 

Netherlands residents would be transported home for isolation while citizens of other countries without alternative options would be taken to a "quarantine location," the Foreign Ministry said. 

Hantavirus can have a rather long incubation period, extending to or even beyond six weeks in exceptional cases, though typically symptoms will present faster than that.

Spanish civil protection chief Virginia Barcones told local radio that citizens of Belgium, Greece, Guatemala and Argentina were on board, as well as the four Germans. 

https://p.dw.com/p/5DYNVSkip next section Germans will be isolated on return home from Hondius, state ministry says05/10/2026May 10, 2026

Germans will be isolated on return home from Hondius, state ministry says

The four remaining German passengers from the MV Hondius will be placed in quarantine on their return, the Health Ministry of the state of Brandenburg said on Sunday. 

It said health officials had arranged for specialists to meet them upon their arrival in the Netherlands at the military airport in Eindhoven, and then transport them to Frankfurt as a first step. 

All four are thought to be asymptomatic. But should any of them display symptoms in transport, they would be taken to the Düsseldorf University Hospital, where one 65-year-old woman is already on the infectious diseases ward.

She had close contact with one of the patients on board who died, and was flown off the cruise ship before it reached Tenerife. 

https://p.dw.com/p/5DYLVSkip next section French PM: One patient exhibited symptoms on flight home05/10/2026May 10, 2026

French PM: One patient exhibited symptoms on flight home

Saim Dušan Inayatullah Editor

One of the five French nationals repatriated on Sunday demonstrated symptoms during the flight, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said. 

"One of them showed symptoms in the repatriation plane," Lecornu wrote online. "Also, these five passengers have been immediately placed in strict isolation until further notice." 

Lecornu said they were receiving medical attention and would have tests and a medical check-up. 

Lecornu said that later on Sunday evening he would implement a temporary decree authorizing isolation measures for contact cases to protect the wider public, saying the Health Ministry would comment further later. 

https://p.dw.com/p/5DYJBSkip next section Pope Leo thanks the Canary Islands for letting the hantavirus-hit ship to anchor05/10/2026May 10, 2026

Pope Leo thanks the Canary Islands for letting the hantavirus-hit ship to anchor

Addressing the faithful from St. Peter's Square in the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV praised the people of Spain's Canary Islands, which includes Tenerife, for allowing the cruise ship Hondius into one if its ports after a hantavirus outbreak.

"I would like to express my gratitude for the hospitality that characterizes the people of the Canary Islands, and for taking in the cruise ship Hondius with the hantavirus patients,” Leo said after his midday prayer on Sunday.

Initially, regional officials in the Canary Islands refused to let the ship enter its ports, citing public safety. These objections have been overruled by the central government in Madrid.

The pope is due to visit Tenerife in just over a month and attend an event in the Santa Cruz port.

https://p.dw.com/p/5DXyHSkip next section First plane with Hondius passengers leaves Tenerife, heads to Madrid05/10/2026May 10, 2026

First plane with Hondius passengers leaves Tenerife, heads to Madrid

The plane carrying 13 passengers and one crew member evacuated from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship  has left the Tenerife airport and is flying towards Madrid, where the group is to be placed in quarantine.

This is the first out of several evacuation flights expected today and tomorrow.

Cruise shop MV Hondius was affected by a hantavirus outbreak after leaving Argentina. Earlier today, it reached the Spanish island of Tenerife with more than 140 from 20 nations aboard, triggering an international evacuation effort.

https://p.dw.com/p/5DXxmSkip next section German firefighters to pick up German Hondius passengers from a Dutch airport05/10/2026May 10, 2026

German firefighters to pick up German Hondius passengers from a Dutch airport

As multiple nations work to transfer their nationals from Tenerife following the evacuation of the Hondius cruise ship, a Dutch flight is set to transport a group of passengers from the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Greece to the Dutch city of Eindhoven.

At the Dutch airport, four Germans will reportedly be met by German firefighters who will then transport them to Frankfurt, some 300 kilometers (186 miles) southeast.

Citing unnamed sources, Germany's DPA news agency said that any patient starting to show symptoms of a hantavirus infection will be taken to a clinic in the western German city of Dusseldorf.

The clinic is already treating a 65-year-old woman who had been a passenger on the Hondius and in contact with the German woman who passed away during the journey.

https://p.dw.com/p/5DXu2Skip next section First passengers leave hantavirus-hit shipPublished 05/10/2026Published May 10, 2026last updated 05/10/2026last updated May 10, 2026

First passengers leave hantavirus-hit ship

The first group of passengers, all Spanish nationals, have disembarked from the Hondius and been transported ashore on the Spanish island of Tenerife.

They are set to board military buses that will take them to the airport, where they will fly on a military plane to Madrid. Once there, they will be placed in quarantine.

"The entire operation is proceeding normally," Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said.

Dutch nationals are expected to be the next to leave the vessel.

A medical team has now boarded the MV Hondius and is conducting an epidemiological investigation, according to the Spanish Health Ministry.

https://p.dw.com/p/5DXjYSkip next section UK parachutes medical team to remote Tristan da Cunha island05/10/2026May 10, 2026

UK parachutes medical team to remote Tristan da Cunha island

After a British national with a suspected hantavirus infection disembarked from the Hondius on the island of Tristan da Cunha, the UK military parachuted "specialist paratroopers and military clinicians" onto the British overseas territory.

Oxygen and other medical equipment were also dropped from the RAF cargo plane. The UK military described the drop as a "daring parachute operation to deliver critical medical support."

The remote volcanic island, home of the Hondius passenger, is located in the South Atlantic and has no airstrip, making it accessible only by boat.

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the safety of "all members of the British family" is the top priority and that her government will continue to ensure that "the right support is in place in the UK and across the Overseas Territories."

https://p.dw.com/p/5DXglSkip next section Health officials start medical checks on Hondius passengers05/10/2026May 10, 2026

Health officials start medical checks on Hondius passengers

Medical teams are now checking passengers for signs of infection as they disembark MV Hondius. The passengers are to be transported to land in small boats, divided into groups of five.

Spanish nationals will be the first to disembark.

Authorities previously said none of the nearly 150 passengers and crew aboard the ship currently showed symptoms of a Hantavirus infection. However, the incubation period for the virus can last for up to eight weeks.

https://p.dw.com/p/5DXgQSkip next section Evacuation teams deployed to Tenerife port05/10/2026May 10, 2026

Evacuation teams deployed to Tenerife port

Spain's law enforcement agency Guardia Civil has sent teams to Tenerife the Port of Granadilla where the cruise ship MV Hondius is now anchored.

Nearly 150 people are onboard. International passengers will only be allowed to leave when their planes are ready at the nearby airport. 

All Spanish passengers are to be quarantined in a medical facility in Madrid.

The authorities hope to complete the evacuation process by tomorrow, with the last flight set to depart for Australia.

https://p.dw.com/p/5DXaLSkip next section Hondius set to sail to the Netherlands after evacuation05/10/2026May 10, 2026

Hondius set to sail to the Netherlands after evacuation

After all passengers and some crew evacuate the luxury cruise ship Hondius, the vessel is expected to sail to the Netherlands for disinfection. It will also transport the body of a German woman, one of three passengers believed to have died from the hantavirus outbreak, to a Dutch port.

The first victim, a Dutch man, was taken off the ship at the remote Atlantic island of St. Helena. His wife later died in a South African hospital after disembarking.

According to a manifest provided by the ship's operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, six Germans remain aboard the ship. They are to be evacuated and flown back to Germany.

Germany's official public health agency, the Robert Koch Institute, recommends six weeks of isolation for suspected contact persons who are not showing symptoms of hantavirus infection. The quarantine can also be conducted at home.

https://p.dw.com/p/5DXWnSkip next section What happens next?05/10/2026May 10, 2026

What happens next?

A cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak has arrived at the Spanish island of Tenerife.

Spanish authorities say medical teams will first screen everyone on board for acute symptoms.

If none are found, passengers will disembark in groups of five, wearing FFP2 masks and carrying only light hand luggage.

They will be taken by bus to the airport and flown home on special charter flights arranged by their countries.

The World Health Organization says returns are planned for Sunday and Monday, with passengers expected to enter quarantine after arrival.

https://p.dw.com/p/5DXO8Skip next section Cruise ship hit by hantavirus outbreak reaches Tenerife05/10/2026May 10, 2026

Cruise ship hit by hantavirus outbreak reaches Tenerife

The vessel Hondius, which was hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak, arrived near the Port of Granadilla on Spain's island of Tenerife on Sunday morning.

The virus killed three people aboard the luxury vessel.

Spanish officials said passengers would be tested before being transported ashore in small boats, then taken to the airport in sealed buses and flown to their home countries for quarantine.

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