A DISEASE-STRICKEN cruise ship has set sail for the Canary Islands despite protests from the regional government over ‘safety concerns’ for the local population.
The MV Hondius departed Cape Verde on Wednesday evening after Madrid accepted a World Health Organisation (WHO) request to allow the ship to dock at Tenerife’s Granadilla port, where it is expected to arrive on Sunday.
Canary Islands officials have opposed the decision, insisting Tenerife is not equipped to handle the crisis and demanding ‘safety guarantees’ before the hantavirus-hit vessel is allowed to dock.
Alfonso Cabello, spokesperson for the Canary Islands government, said he was ‘seriously’ concerned and requested a new meeting with cabinet officials for Thursday at 8am.
Earlier on Wednesday, Canary Islands president Fernando Clavijo had criticised Madrid over a ‘lack of transparency,’ claiming he had learned about the decision through media reports.
However, Spain’s health minister Monica Garcia said the central government would coordinate the health response once the Hondius docked, stressing that the operation would be carried out safely.
She added that all 146 passengers currently aboard were asymptomatic and would be repatriated on Monday following medical checks in Tenerife.
The vessel’s 14 Spanish nationals are due to be transferred to Madrid’s Gomez Ulla defence hospital, where they will be asked to enter a ‘voluntary’ quarantine, defence minister Margarita Robles said.
Separately, a flight carrying one of three sick passengers was forced to abandon a planned layover in Malaga and touch down in the Canary Islands after Morocco refused permission to land.
The air ambulance, which departed Cape Verde at around 11am on Wednesday, was rerouted to Gran Canaria following a containment failure in the patient’s isolation ‘bubble,’ used to prevent infectious diseases from spreading.
According to media reports, Spain’s Ministry of Health decided to cancel the Malaga stop to avoid a political crisis ahead of Andalucia’s regional elections on May 17.
Canary Islands authorities agreed to receive the plane on the condition that no one boarded or disembarked, local government officials said.
The patient was transferred to a new air ambulance in the early hours of Thursday morning before departing for Amsterdam, where they landed at around 8.30am.
The original aircraft later landed in Valencia at around 7.45am, according to flight-tracking websites.
The patient was one of three evacuees – British, Dutch and German nationals – though it remains unclear who was aboard each plane.
A total of eight passengers aboard the MV Hondius have fallen ill, including three who died, with the WHO confirming three hantavirus cases through laboratory testing.
The strain has been identified as the Andes variant, which – unlike most forms of the virus – can spread through close person-to-person contact.
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