{"id":61093,"date":"2026-05-06T16:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T16:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/61093\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T16:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T16:14:10","slug":"unnerving-gurney-photo-shows-suspected-hantavirus-patient-evacuated-from-doomed-cruise-ship-in-netherlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/61093\/","title":{"rendered":"Unnerving gurney photo shows suspected hantavirus patient evacuated from doomed cruise ship in Netherlands"},"content":{"rendered":"

A suspected hantavirus<\/a> patient was hauled off the stricken MV Hondius cruise ship<\/a> in a hazmat suit on a gurney Wednesday \u2014 as nearly 150 people remained trapped<\/a> aboard the luxury vessel<\/a> marooned off West Africa.<\/p>\n

Three people, including two who are seriously ill, were evacuated<\/a> from the ship anchored off Cape Verde so they can receive\u00a0medical\u00a0care in the\u00a0Netherlands amid the deadly outbreak, the World Health Organization said.<\/p>\n

At least one of them was pictured wearing full protective gear on a gurney as they were removed from an ambulance and escorted to a waiting jet.<\/p>\n

A suspected hantavirus patient is being hauled off the stricken MV Hondius cruise ship in head-to-toe protective gear, on a gurney. @DrTedros\/X<\/p>\n

Passengers aboard the stricken MV Hondius cruise ship are watching health personnel assisting patients onto a boat for medical aid. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Health personnel in protective gear in a smaller boat are assisting patients from the MV Hondius cruise ship \u2014 as nearly 150 people remain trapped aboard the luxury vessel marooned off West Africa. AP<\/p>\n

Police officers in white hazmat suits waited at the port in Cape Verde\u2019s capital city, Praia, as a small red ambulance boat sailed back and forth to the cruise ship on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The three patients<\/a>, who are believed to be infected with the virus, include a 56-year-old British national, a 41-year-old Dutch national and a 65-year-old German national, officials said.<\/p>\n

One of them is the ship\u2019s doctor, who earlier was in \u201cserious condition\u201d but has improved, Spain\u2019s health ministry said.<\/p>\n

The passengers and crew members still left on the ship aren\u2019t showing any symptoms, officials said.<\/p>\n

The ship is expected to sail to\u00a0Tenerife in the Canary Islands,\u00a0where they\u2019ll finally be allowed to disembark.<\/p>\n

Non-Spanish citizens will be immediately repatriated to their native countries after the ship arrives\u00a0\u2014 meaning they won\u2019t have to quarantine in Spain, Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said.<\/p>\n

Health personnel board the cruise ship MV Hondius off the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on May 6, 2026. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The three patients, who are believed to be infected with the virus, include a 56-year-old British national, a 41-year-old Dutch national and a 65-year-old German national, officials said. @DrTedros\/X<\/p>\n

The 14 Spaniards on board will be transferred by plane to a hospital in Madrid to quarantine.<\/p>\n

It comes as authorities in Switzerland revealed that a former passenger of the Dutch-flagged ship was being treated at a Zurich university hospital after testing positive.<\/p>\n

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The passenger went to the hospital for testing after the\u00a0cruise operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, emailed recent travelers about the spreading virus.<\/p>\n

Three people have died so far amid the outbreak, including a Dutch couple and a German national.<\/p>\n

Three people have died so far amid the outbreak, including a Dutch couple and a German national. @DrTedros\/X<\/p>\n

A British national was previously evacuated from the ship and is in intensive care in South Africa.<\/p>\n

Hantavirus usually spreads by inhaling contaminated rodent droppings and can spread from person to person, though the WHO insists such transmission is rare.<\/p>\n

\u201cWHO continues to work with the ship\u2019s operators to closely monitor the health of passengers and crew, working with countries to support appropriate medical follow-up and evacuation where needed,\u201d WHO Director-General\u00a0Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMonitoring and follow-up for passengers on board and for those who have already disembarked has been initiated in collaboration with the ship\u2019s operators and national health authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Post wires<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A suspected hantavirus patient was hauled off the stricken MV Hondius cruise ship in a hazmat suit on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[33717,197,9433,17,33642,1046],"class_list":{"0":"post-61093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-switzerland","8":"tag-cruises","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-netherlands","11":"tag-switzerland","12":"tag-virus","13":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116528523875994985","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}