Passengers aboard the Dutch-owned cruise ship MV Hondius began evacuating in Tenerife on Sunday after a deadly hantavirus outbreak linked to the vessel left three people dead and prompted an international emergency response.
The ship arrived off the Spanish island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, where nearly 150 passengers and crew members are being disembarked and repatriated to their home countries under strict biosecurity measures.
Video footage from the evacuation operation showed passengers wearing face masks and full-body protective suits as they were transported ashore by small boats. A medical tent was established at Granadilla port, while buses waited to transfer evacuees directly to the airport for specially arranged government and military flights.
The first aircraft carrying 14 Spanish passengers departed Sunday for Madrid, where the travelers were taken to a military hospital for monitoring. Flights carrying French, Canadian, British and other international passengers were also prepared for departure.
Passengers started disembarking from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship anchored off Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands, hours after arriving there as evacuation plans got underway. Follow latest updates here: https://t.co/zPJp8gQUuT pic.twitter.com/GrMW2CqiNP
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 10, 2026
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), six confirmed cases and two suspected cases of hantavirus have been linked to the outbreak. Three people have died, including two individuals who died aboard the ship.
WHO: “This Is Not Another COVID”
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus sought to reassure the public as the evacuation operation unfolded.
“We have been repeating the same answer many times,” Tedros said. “This is not another COVID. And the risk to the public is low. So they shouldn’t be scared, and they shouldn’t panic.”
He added: “Based on scientific assessment and based on evidence, the risk is low.”
Health officials stressed that passengers continue to be asymptomatic, although strict isolation and long-term monitoring measures are being implemented because symptoms can take weeks to develop.
Diana Rojas Alvarez, the WHO health operations lead in Tenerife, said authorities are taking a cautious approach because “we cannot be sure that they will not develop symptoms until 42 days have passed.”
Dr. Boris Pavlin, a WHO medical epidemiologist overseeing the operation, described the evacuation as “extremely efficient.”
“Passengers have been coming off the ship on boats in small numbers, placed on buses and spaced apart,” Pavlin said. “Even though all of them are asymptomatic, they have no symptoms right now, we want to make sure they don’t present any additional new risk to each other.”
“This is not Covid,” he added. “In Covid, we’ve all been traumatized by how people you didn’t even think were sick were already spreading it, [but] we have no reason to believe that that’s happening here.”
International Quarantines and Medical Monitoring
Countries receiving evacuees have announced strict quarantine and observation measures.
Canadian passengers will self-isolate in British Columbia for at least 21 days and potentially up to 42 days. French passengers are expected to undergo hospital monitoring before entering a 45-day home quarantine period.
However, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu later confirmed that one of the five French passengers developed symptoms during the repatriation flight to Paris, prompting authorities to place all five in strict isolation pending testing.
British authorities said passengers and crew returning to the United Kingdom will be hospitalized for observation, while American passengers will be transferred to the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
“We are prepared for situations exactly like this,” Dr. Michael Ash, CEO of Nebraska Medicine, said in a statement.
Spanish Health Minister Mónica García said Dutch nationals would be evacuated alongside passengers from Germany, Belgium and Greece, while later flights would carry travelers from Turkey, France, the United Kingdom and the United States.
A final evacuation flight scheduled for Monday is expected to transport passengers from Australia, New Zealand and several Asian countries.
How the Outbreak Began
The outbreak was first reported to the WHO on May 2, nearly a month after the ship departed from Ushuaia, Argentina, for an expedition voyage.
According to the WHO, the vessel initially carried 147 passengers and crew members. Authorities said 34 people had already disembarked before the outbreak was formally identified.
The first known fatality was a Dutch man who died aboard the ship on April 11. Oceanwide Expeditions stated at the time that “the cause of death was unknown and there was no evidence of a virus or contagion on board.”
His wife later died at a clinic in South Africa on April 26. A third fatality, identified as a German woman, occurred aboard the ship on May 2.
Two days later, hantavirus was confirmed in a passenger medically evacuated to a hospital in South Africa.
The MV Hondius remains anchored offshore in the Canary Islands after Spanish national authorities overruled objections from local leaders concerned about potential infection risks and damage to Tenerife’s tourism-dependent economy.
Some crew members and the body of a passenger who died onboard will remain on the ship as it continues to Rotterdam in the Netherlands for disinfection procedures.
What Is Hantavirus?
Hantavirus is a rare but potentially deadly disease caused by viruses carried primarily by rodents. Humans are usually infected through exposure to contaminated rodent urine, droppings or saliva.
The WHO said the origin of the first infection aboard the ship “suggest possible exposure to rodents during bird watching activities.”
Most hantavirus strains are not easily transmitted between people. However, the Andes virus, the strain linked to the MV Hondius outbreak, is one of the few known forms capable of limited human-to-human transmission, usually involving close personal contact.
Symptoms can appear between one and eight weeks after exposure and may include fever, gastrointestinal illness and severe respiratory complications, including pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.
The WHO noted that hantavirus can have a fatality rate of approximately 40% to 50%, particularly among older individuals. The average age of passengers aboard the ship is reportedly 65.
Globally, hantavirus infections remain rare. Experts estimate that between 10,000 and 100,000 infections occur annually worldwide, most in Asia and Europe. In the Americas, only 150 to 300 cases are typically reported each year.
Wider Precautions Underway
The outbreak has also triggered precautionary measures far beyond Tenerife.
British Army medics parachuted into the remote South Atlantic territory of Tristan da Cunha after a former MV Hondius passenger living there was suspected of contracting the virus.
Meanwhile, Spanish authorities confirmed that a woman in Alicante initially suspected of infection later tested negative for hantavirus.
In its latest assessment, the WHO said the outbreak is being managed through “coordinated international response,” including case isolation, medical evacuation and laboratory investigations.
“WHO currently assesses the risk to the global population from this event as low,” the agency said, adding that it will continue monitoring the evolving situation.