An international public health emergency centered on a hantavirus outbreak aboard a Dutch cruise ship took an unexpected turn Wednesday, when a flight carrying evacuees from the vessel was forced to divert to Spain’s Canary Islands and later grounded by a critical technical fault, Spain’s national health ministry has confirmed.
The crisis began late last week, when three passengers aboard the MV Hondius, a cruise ship sailing off the coast of West Africa, died from what public health officials suspect is hantavirus—a rare rodent-borne pathogen that spreads through contact with infected animals’ urine, droppings, or saliva. The World Health Organization was alerted to the outbreak over the weekend, triggering a multi-nation effort to evacuate remaining passengers and crew.
Two flights carrying a total of three evacuees departed Cape Verde, where the ship had been anchored, en route to Amsterdam. One of the aircraft, which was originally scheduled to refuel in Morocco, was denied landing permission by Moroccan authorities, forcing it to divert to Gran Canaria Airport in the Canary Islands for refueling. During the unscheduled stop, the medical team onboard reported a failure in the electrical system that powers life support for a patient being evacuated.
Spanish health ministry officials confirmed the patient remains onboard the grounded aircraft, connected to external power from the airport while awaiting replacement aircraft to continue the journey to the Netherlands. Officials emphasized that the isolated patient poses no public health risk to people on the ground and will remain contained until the situation is resolved, though no timeline for a new flight has been released.
Regional authorities in the Canary Islands have taken a harder line, however, confirming that no passengers will be allowed to board or disembark the grounded plane. Regional officials say the patient’s isolation bubble, designed to prevent potential transmission of the virus, was compromised during the unscheduled stop.
Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 shows the plane was originally scheduled to make a second stopover in Malaga, southern Spain, before reaching its final destination in Amsterdam. The remaining evacuees from the MV Hondius face further uncertainty as well: Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia confirmed the ship itself will dock in Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, by Saturday to allow for mandatory medical screenings and coordinated passenger repatriation.
The decision to bring the ship to the archipelago has already sparked political tension, with Canary Islands regional authorities rejecting the plan and calling for all medical care and repatriation operations to be carried out from Cape Verde, where the ship was originally anchored.