Alyssa Mcmurtry
11 May 2026•Update: 11 May 2026
A French passenger evacuated from the MV Hondius cruise ship, where a hantavirus outbreak led to the deaths of three people and infected several others, showed symptoms during a repatriation flight Sunday from Spanish islands.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said one of five French nationals evacuated from the ship showed symptoms during the flight back to Paris and was immediately placed in strict isolation along with the other passengers.
The five passengers are undergoing medical examinations and testing, Lecornu said, adding that France would introduce isolation measures for contacts “to protect the general population.”
The case emerged as international evacuation operations continued off Spain’s Canary Islands, close to West Africa, where the Dutch-flagged expedition cruise ship arrived Sunday morning.
Earlier Sunday, Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said all passengers and crew aboard the ship were asymptomatic following health inspections carried out after the ship's arrival.
On Sunday night, Garcia said that 94 people of 19 nationalities, including Dutch, Canadian, and Turkish, had been evacuated from the vessel during the first day of operations.
World Health Organization pandemic preparedness chief Maria Van Kerkhove said evacuation efforts would resume Monday morning and are expected to conclude by 7 pm local time (1800GMT).
About 30 crew members will remain aboard the ship to sail it back to the Netherlands in the coming days, where the vessel will be disinfected upon arrival.
The first to disembark Sunday were 14 Spanish nationals, who were flown by military aircraft to Madrid and transferred to a military hospital for quarantine and testing.
The evacuation in the Canary Islands came amid controversy and objections from Fernando Clavijo, the island’s regional president.
Spanish officials dismissed concerns that infected rodents could reach shore from the ship, saying the possibility of an Andean rodent swimming to the Canary coast was “zero.”
Hantavirus is a rare disease usually transmitted through infected rodents or their droppings, though the strain responsible for this outbreak can also spread between humans.
