Spain starts evacuating virus-hit cruise ship in Tenerife

Spain has started evacuating passengers from a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship anchored near Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Health Minister Mónica García said the operation was "proceeding normally" and that all passengers on board the MS Hondius were still asymptomatic. The Hondius pulled into the port of Granadilla before dawn on Sunday, a month after the first passenger died on board.

Passengers will be divided into groups by nationality and ferried to the coast in small boats. Charter planes will be on the tarmac at the local airport, ready to repatriate them to their home countries. At about 07:00 (06:00 GMT) on Sunday, medical teams went on board to check everyone for signs of the virus. A security perimeter of one nautical mile was enforced around the ship. Dozens of intensive care specialists are on stand-by at the Candelaria hospital in Tenerife. Chief intensive care doctor Mar Martin said, "We are absolutely ready." She also said, "We've never seen [hantavirus] before - but it's a virus, with some complications, just like we manage every day. We are fully trained for that." The complex operation to prevent the rare Andes strain of this virus spreading is described by Spain's health minister as "unprecedented".

Fourteen Spanish nationals will be first to disembark, then those flown out by the Netherlands, including Dutch, Greek and German passengers, and part of the crew. Other flights are poised to leave after that, including to the UK and US. The last evacuation flight is expected to leave on Monday to Australia. Spanish nationals leaving the ship will be flown to Madrid, where they face a mandatory quarantine in the Gomez Ulla military hospital. The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, now in Tenerife to oversee the disembarking, has praised the