Three dead in suspected virus outbreak on Atlantic cruise ship

Anger and resignation in Tenerife as hantavirus ship approaches

13 minutes agoGuy HedgecoeTenerifeReutersProtesters in Tenerife campaigning against the arrival of MV HondiusAs the MV Hondius cruise ship approaches Tenerife, the people of the Spanish island await it with a mixture of uncertainty and, in some cases, anger.The Spanish government has agreed with the World Health Organization (WHO) that the passengers of the vessel, which has seen an outbreak of the hantavirus, should be allowed to disembark there this weekend. It has travelled from Cape Verde, where three people were evacuated due to illness.On Friday, some Tenerife dock workers gathered outside the Canary Islands' parliament building in the town of Santa Cruz, to voice concerns that the imminent arrival could pose a health risk for them.They blew whistles, sounded vuvuzelas and brandished banners."We're unhappy at the idea of being allowed to work in a port without special safety measures or information when an infected boat is approaching," said Joana Batista, of a local port workers' union, who was taking part.Some of her colleagues have threatened to block the arrival of the cruise ship if their demands are not met."If the boat is going to stop here, then it can do so, but with the necessary measures in place," she said. "Local people need to be told how this will affect them, how the passengers will be transported. We need reassurance above all."Nearby, watching the protest, was nutritionist María de la Luz Sedeño, who agreed with much of what the demonstrators were demanding and could barely contain her fury."This is the last straw when it comes to everything the people of the Canary Islands have to put up with," she said - an apparent reference to the continuing arrival of thousands of undocumented migrants in boats from North and West Africa. For some Canary islanders, hosting migrants is a source of pride - while for others, like Sedeño, it is a cause of frustration. But they all seem to agree that migration makes their territory the focus of an international drama.More than 3,000 people died in 2025 trying to reach the Canary Islands, often in makeshift dinghies, according to NGO Caminando Fronteras. Pope Leo is due to visit in June and meet migrants and organisations dedicated to helping them.María de la Luz Sedeño cited the fact that the central government had disregarded staunch opposition to the cruise ship's arrival voiced by the president of the Canary Islands region, Fernando Clavijo."The people here are not being listened to."ReutersMV Hondius (pictured) was not allowed to dock in Cape VerdeThe Socialist-led central government has responded to the accusations of high-handedness and lack of transparency by providing details of the boat's arrival this weekend.It will not dock directly in Tenerife but will instead anchor out at sea and its passengers will be ferried to the vast industrial port of Granadilla, in the south-east of the island, well away from residential areas. Soon after their arrival they will be repatriated, or, in the case of the 14 Spaniards aboard, taken to Madrid to be quarantined.The authorities insist there will be no contact between passengers and local residents who "will be absolutely and completely protected", according to Virginia Barcones, head of Spain's civil protection agency.The government's efforts have won over at least some islanders."Now I'm a bit calmer because there's more information," says Marialaina Retina Fernández, a pensioner, who describes the local healthcare facilities as "the best there is". She appears resigned to the idea of briefly sharing her island with the boat's passengers."It's not ideal that they all end up coming here," she explains. "But if [the authorities] say they'll do everything possible to make sure nobody gets infected, let's hope that's how it is."MV Hondius is arriving with the agreement of Madrid, but this has not prevented the far-right Vox party from trying to capitalise on the issue, drawing a comparison with the arrival of illegal migrants.

Anger and resignation in Tenerife as hantavirus ship approaches

Worldwide race to trace passengers from hantavirus-hit cruise ship

Worldwide race to trace passengers from hantavirus-hit cruise ship27 minutes agoTom McArthurGetty ImagesHealth authorities across the globe are racing to trace dozens of people who disembarked from a cruise ship before an outbreak of hantavirus was detected, and anyone who has come into close contact with them since.Five cases have now been confirmed, including three deaths, following an outbreak on the Dutch vessel MV Hondius, the World Health Organization has said.But given the incubation period of this disease - which can be up to six weeks - it is possible more cases may be reported, the WHO said.The luxury cruise, Oceanwide Expeditions, said in a statement 114 guests and 61 crew members from 22 countries boarded the vessel, but 32 guests disembarked at St Helena on 24 April.About 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries are reported to have initially been aboard the vessel, but dozens got off on the island of St Helena on 24 April.The ship began its journey on 1 April in Ushuaia, Argentina, and is expected to arrive in Spain's Canary Islands on 10 May.On Friday, Oceanwide Expeditions published a detailed list of when crew and guests disembarked the ship at different stops. Hantavirus typically spreads from rodents, with people infected by breathing in air contaminated with virus particles from rodent urine, droppings, or saliva.Rare instances of human transmission have been documented with the Andes strain, which is behind this outbreak. It is the first known transmission of the virus on a boat, the WHO said on Thursday.The WHO is in touch with officials in at least 12 countries who are monitoring citizens that were on the ship or had returned home.Those countries include Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.One expert told the BBC the outbreak response has been "highly chaotic and uncoordinated" but there was little general risk to the public.Here is what we know about the countries affected so far:UKThree British nationals have suspected hantavirus. Seven Brits disembarked the MV Hondius in St Helena on 24 April before the first confirmed case of hantavirus was reported on 4 May, with four remaining there.One patient, who is a crew member, is on the remote Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, where the ship stopped on 13 April.Two other British men have confirmed cases. One is Martin Anstee, a 56-year-old retired police officer, who remains in a stable condition in the Netherlands after being evacuated from the ship on Wednesday, while the other remains in intensive care after being flown to South Africa last month.They do not have symptoms but are in contact with health officials. It is understood that medical staff will be sent to the islands to provide support.Two other British nationals are already self-isolating at home in the UK after potential exposure. They are doing so voluntarily and do not have any symptoms.Currently, three crew members and 19 guests on board the ship are from the UK.USThe health agencies of five states have said they are monitoring people who were on the ship: two each in Georgia and Texas, one each in Arizona and Virginia, and an unspecified number in California, according to the BBC's US partner, CBS News. None of the individuals were showing symptoms, the health departments said.The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified the hantavirus outbreak as a "level 3" emergency response, its lowest level.There are 17 guests on board the ship from the US.ArgentinaBefore boarding the cruise ship on 1 April, the Dutch couple had taken a bird-watching trip through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, visiting sites where the species of rat known to carry the Andes strain of the virus was present, according to the WHO.The source of the outbreak has not been confirmed, but the Argentine government is looking into whether infections began in the country.One Argentinia

Third British national has suspected hantavirus infection, UK government says

Just nowHugh Pym,Health editorandTabby WilsonReutersBritish passengers and crew on the cruise ship hit with an outbreak of hantavirus will be tested before returning to the UK.The MV Hondius is expected to dock in the Canary Islands this weekend, with the remaining 22 Britons due to fly home on a charter flight soon after.Two British men with confirmed cases are receiving treatment in the Netherlands and South Africa, while a third Briton is being treated for a suspected case on the remote Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, where the ship stopped in mid-April. Ahead of the ship's arrival on the island of Tenerife on Sunday, government officials have been setting out plans to fly home the British citizens.When the vessel arrives, passengers and crew will be tested for the virus onboard by Spanish officials. If they are symptomatic they will be taken to local hospitals for treatment.Those without symptoms will be taken straight to a chartered plane and flown to the UK as soon as possible, most likely the same day.Although none of the remaining Britons are currently displaying symptoms, they will be asked to isolate and self-test for 45 days - either at home or at other accommodation - upon their return. No legislation will be used to impose self isolation.Support from medical staff will be available to help carry out blood tests.He remains in a stable condition and told the BBC that he was "fine".Another British passenger, 69, has a confirmed case and was medically evacuated to South Africa at the end of April.He remains in intensive care and has been said by officials to be "doing better".Two other British nationals are already self-isolating at home in the UK after potential exposure. They are doing so voluntarily and do not have any symptoms. They were part of a group of 30 people from a dozen nations - including seven Britons - who disembarked from the ship at St Helena in the South Atlantic on 24 April, according to operator Oceanwide Expeditions.

The operator said the first confirmed case of hantavirus was not reported until 4 May and that all guests who disembarked the ship had been contacted.Four Britons who disembarked on St Helena remain there. They do not have symptoms but are in contact with health officials. It is understood that medical staff will be sent to the islands to provide support.A military plane has arrived at Ascension Island, a British territory in the South Atlantic, with supplies of testing kits, oxygen and other medical equipment. Medical personnel are expected to take these to St Helena and Tristan da Cunha.Contact tracing is under way in several other countries for dozens of passengers who left the Dutch cruise ship before the outbreak was detected - including Switzerland and the Netherlands.The World Health Organization (WHO) called it a "serious incident" but said the risk to the public was low, stressing the outbreak was not similar to the Covid-19 pandemic.British people affected by hantavirus outbreak Three Britons are confirmed or suspected to have contracted hantavirus One of them is being treated in the Netherlands, another man is being treated in South Africa, and a third is on the remote Atlantic island of Trista da CunhaSeven Britons disembarked the MV Hondius in St Helena on 24 April before the first confirmed case of hantavirus was reported on 4 May, with four remaining there Two of the Britons who disembarked on 24 April have already returned to the UK and are self-isolating voluntarily but do not have symptomsThe seventh person has not yet been traced, the UKHSA has saidThe origin of the outbreak is still unknown and it is not known if people other than cruise ship passengers and crew have been infected with the disease.WHO director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus told a news conference that the first two cases had "travelled through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay on a bird-watching trip which included visits to sites where the species of rat known to carry the virus was present".One of

Three dead after volcano erupts on Indonesian island

Just nowTessa Wong,SingaporeandBBC Indonesian,JakartaWatch: Mount Dukono volcano erupts in IndonesiaThree people hiking on Indonesia's Mount Dukono have died after the volcano erupted on Friday morning.Videos and pictures of the eruption show the volcano, located on North Maluku island, spewing a column of ash stretching 10km (six miles) into the sky.The three victims were part of a group of 20 Singaporeans and Indonesians hiking on the mountain despite restrictions. The rest of the group was eventually located by rescuers and evacuated from the mountain.The volcano has erupted more than 200 times since last March. Officials had previously issued warnings against climbing the mountain due to safety concerns. The latest eruption took place at 07:41 local time (22:41 GMT Thursday), when there were several people on the mountain on early morning hikes.Indonesian officials said two Singaporeans and one local resident from the nearby city of Ternate had died. Both of the foreign victims are believed to be male, with one aged 30 and the other 27. The local victim is said to be a female, but no more details were given. The bodies of the three deceased are still on the mountain, according to North Halmahera police chief Erlichson Pasaribu - though most of the hiking group have been safely evacuated and sent to hospital. Two members of the group, who are porters, stayed behind on the mountain to help rescue workers locate the bodies.On Friday afternoon, Mount Dukono was still emitting volcanic material from its crater, according to one local resident assisting rescuers.Aldy Salabia told BBC Indonesian that they were at a local shelter on the mountain preparing for the rescue operation."From the shelter, we can see ash and rock material continuously being ejected," he said.Erlichson said that retrieval of the bodies had been hampered by repeated eruptions, difficult terrain and strong blasts from the volcano.The operation to reach the volcano's crater - where the bodies of the victims are though to be located - was paused as night fell on Friday evening, with Erlichson saying it would resume on Saturday.Besides the 20-member hiking group, eyewitness accounts indicate there were other hikers on the mountain as well.One guide who was on Mount Dukono with two clients at the time of the eruption told BBC Indonesian that he believed high pressure had been building up inside the volcano for several days. "When Dukono hasn't erupted for a few days, you have to be careful," he said, describing the eruption as "major" and "very strong".As they were hiking up, he saw one group of people at the edge of the crater, as well as another group about 50m from the crater who were filming drone videos.Then, "I heard deep tremors. So I decided to immediately descend with the guests. And in the end, the three of us were safe."As they were descending he saw many hikers were still at the summit, he added.Indonesian officials said they had issued warnings against climbing Mount Dukono

which were widely disseminated through social media as well as on banners at trail entrances, but some hikers had ignored them.Indonesian's search and rescue agency Barsanas said that initial discussions among authorities found there may have been "possible negligence by tourism operators or individuals" who proceeded with climbing Mount Dukono despite the warnings."The government is continuing to gather information to establish a complete account of the incident," it said.Mount Dukono is currently listed at level two out of the Volcanological Survey of Indonesia's four-tier volcano alert system, which indicates increased activity and a need for caution.The agency said that since December 2024, it has recommended tourists and climbers to refrain from activities within a 4km radius of Mount Dukono's main crater, where there are threats of ejected rocks, ash and lava.Still, that has not deterred hikers from heading up the 1,335m-tall mountain."Dukono is one of the most active volc

Hantavirus-hit cruise ship leaves Cape Verde after three evacuated

19 minutes agoKathryn ArmstrongReutersA Dutch cruise ship hit with a hantavirus outbreak has left Cape Verde, after three people on board were medically evacuated.A British man, 56, a Dutch crew member, 41, and a German national, 65, were sent from the MV Hondius to the Netherlands for treatment, officials said.Two out of the three evacuated passengers have arrived at a Netherlands hospital for treatment, while the third was on board an evacuation flight that has been delayed, the cruise ship's operator Oceanwide Expeditions said.The ship, which has 146 people on board, has begun a three-day journey to the Canary Islands. Three people who were aboard the ship have died since it set sail from Argentina a month ago. Officials have said that one of the deceased had the virus, while the other two deaths are under investigation.None of the three evacuees have tested positive for hantavirus so far, but two are showing symptoms. Spain's health minister earlier said the British man was a doctor but the BBC later understood that was not correct.Oceanwide Expeditions said one of the evacuees, a German passenger, was "closely associated" with a German woman who died on board the ship on 2 May. In its latest update, the World Health Organization (WHO) said eight cases of hantavirus - three confirmed and five suspected - have so far been identified in people who were on the ship. Hantavirus typically spreads from rodents, but health experts believe that in this case, it may have passed between humans that were in close contact.Testing to confirm whether other people on the ship have contracted the virus is ongoing. Health officials have stressed that the risk of transmission to the wider public is low.The vessel had been anchored near Cape Verde, off Africa's west coast, where three additional medical staff members boarded before it set off towards the Canary Islands on Wednesday. Spanish authorities agreed to the move, but the Canary Islands' president has opposed the plan and demanded an urgent meeting with Spain's prime minister."I cannot allow [the boat] to enter the Canaries," Fernando Clavijo told Spain's Onda Cero radio. "This decision is not based on any technical criteria and nor have we been given enough information."South African health authorities have said the Andes strain - prominent in Latin America, where the cruise originated - was found in two of the confirmed patients after tests were carried out by the country's National Institute for Communicable Diseases. Experts have observed the Andes strain spreading between human patients in previous outbreaks. South Africa says efforts to trace all contacts remain underway.One of the deaths include a Dutch woman who left the MV Hondius when it stopped at the island of St Helena on 24 April. Her husband died on board on 11 April, but is not a confirmed case. The Dutch woman travelled to South Africa, where she died on 26 April. WHO official Dr Maria Van Kerkhove told the BBC that health experts were carrying out contact tracing on the flight she took. KLM Airlines on Wednesday issued an advisory saying the woman had also briefly been aboard one of their flights from Johannesburg to Amsterdam on 25 April before the crew decided not to let her fly due to her medical condition. The third fatality - a German woman - is not a confirmed case either. Her body remains on the ship. Dr Van Kerkhove said the way hantavirus is transmitted "is very different than COVID and flu". "We're not talking about casual contact from very far away from one another," she said, but "really physical contact". A total of 146 people from 23 different countries remain aboard the MV Hondius under "strict precautionary measures", Oceanwide Expeditions said. They have been joined by infectious disease experts and WHO staff, who will travel with them to the Canary Islands. All those who remain on the ship have no symptoms, Spain's health minister Mónica García said. She added that everyone on board will undergo a

Three dead in suspected virus outbreak on Atlantic cruise ship

16 minutes agoTinshui YeungAFP via Getty ImagesThe MV Hondius was sailing from Argentina to Cape VerdeThree people have died after a suspected hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean, the World Health Organization (WHO) has told the BBC. It reported one confirmed and five suspected cases. One UK national aged 69 is now in intensive care in Johannesburg, South Africa. Local officials later told the BBC he had the virus.Hantavirus is usually passed to humans from rodents via their urine or faeces. It can cause severe respiratory illness. Rarely, it can be transmitted between people.The UK Foreign Office told the BBC it was monitoring reports, and ready to support British nationals.The outbreak was reported aboard the MV Hondius ship travelling from Argentina to Cape Verde.The MV Hondius is run by tour company Oceanwide Expeditions.According to an itinerary on its website, MV Hondius departed from Ushuaia in southern Argentina on 20 March and was expected to complete its journey on 4 May in Cape Verde.It is described as a 107.6m (353ft) polar cruise ship, with space for 170 passengers in 80 cabins, along with 57 crew members, 13 guides and one doctor.Foster Mohale, a spokesperson for South Africa's health ministry, told the BBC there were about 150 tourists from various countries aboard the vessel.Before the WHO confirmation of three deaths, Mohale told the BBC that at least two people had died. He said the man, aged 70, and the woman, aged 69, were a Dutch couple.The health official said the man suddenly became ill, developing fever, headache, abdominal pain and diarrhoea. He died on arrival on the island of St Helena, a British territory in the South Atlantic. The woman also became ill on board and was evacuated to South Africa, where she died in a Johannesburg hospital. The AFP news agency cited a source saying that the third fatality was still on board the ship.Speaking anonymously, the source said and discussions were under way to decide whether two other sick passengers should be placed in isolation in hospital in Cape Verde. The ship would then reportedly continue to Spain's Canary Islands.The WHO said it was helping co-ordinate between member states and the ship's operators for the medical evacuation of two symptomatic passengers, as well as a full public health risk assessment and support for those still on board.

Three dead in suspected virus outbreak on Atlantic cruise ship

Anger and resignation in Tenerife as hantavirus ship approaches

Anger and resignation in Tenerife as hantavirus ship approaches

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