Hantavirus live updates: Evacuations begin after MV Hondius arrives in Canary Islands
Passengers onboard the MV Hondius began disembarking in small groups on Sunday morning, heading for the shore in Tenerife, where they were expected to continue on to charter flights back to their home countries.
Spain’s health minister, Monica Garcia, who was at the port in the Canary Islands on Sunday, said the remaining passengers were all thought to be asymptomatic.
Passengers are being disembarked from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026.
AP
“The entire operation is proceeding normally and I said the first to disembark will be the Spanish citizens, and then the flight to the Netherlands will depart,” Garcia said prior to the passengers’ beginning of their departures from the ship.
Flights were planned for passengers who were headed to Canada, Turkey, France, Great Britain, Ireland and the United States, she said.
Passengers are disembarked from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026.
Manu Fernandez/AP
“The Netherlands will send two planes: today’s plane and another one tomorrow, which we’ll call a ‘sweeper plane,’ to pick up any passengers not picked up by the other countries,” she said. “But in principle, well, throughout today and tomorrow, all the planes of all nationalities will be disembarked and taken back to their respective countries.”
-ABC News’ Rashid Haddou and Maggie Rulli
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