A CRUISE ship bound for Tenerife with a deadly virus outbreak aboard will not dock at the island’s port, authorities have announced.
Canary Islands president Fernando Clavijo said passengers will instead be evacuated using tender boats while the hantavirus-hit MV Hondius remains anchored offshore.
Clavijo said he received the information from Spain’s health minister, Monica Garcia, shortly after local dockworkers threatened to block Tenerife’s Granadilla port upon the vessel’s arrival on Sunday.
Elena Ruiz, spokesperson for Trabajadores de los Puertos de Tenerife, had also announced a protest rally for Friday at 12pm, although it is now unclear whether it will go ahead as planned.
The dockworkers had planned the action in protest at what they described as a ‘complete lack of information’ regarding safety protocols.
Ruiz, whose union represents around 400 dockworkers, said: “The problem is the complete lack of information from the national port authority, from the government, from anyone.”
“The workers want to block the port,” she added. “They are threatening to block the port.”
The development marks the latest escalation in a dispute between the Canary Islands government and Madrid that began on Wednesday.
Clavijo had previously said he would not authorise the Hondius to dock unless ‘sufficient guarantees’ were provided that there was no risk to the local population.
Alfonso Cabello, spokesperson for the regional government, said he was ‘seriously’ concerned and had requested a meeting with central government officials on Thursday morning.
However, Spain’s health minister Monica Garcia insisted the central government would coordinate the health response once the ship arrived, stressing that the operation would be carried out safely.
She added that all 146 passengers currently on board 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.
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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