Passengers start disembarking from hantavirus-stricken cruise ship in Spain's Canary Islands

TENERIFE, Canary Islands (AP) — Passengers started disembarking on Sunday from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship anchored off Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands, hours after arriving there as evacuation plans got underway.

An Associated Press journalist at the scene said that some people were seen reaching land after leaving the ship. Nobody among the more than 140 people on the MV Hondius is showing symptoms of the virus, Spanish authorities, the World Health Organization and cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions said.

Spain’s health ministry said that Spanish nationals would be the first to leave the ship, and would be ferried off in small launch boats that carry between five and 10 people.

The cruise ship reached Tenerife early Sunday morning, after leaving Cape Verde on May 6.

Three people have died since the outbreak, and five passengers who left the ship are infected with hantavirus, which can cause life-threatening illness.

Everyone disembarking will be checked for symptoms, and were being taken off the ship once evacuation flights were ready to fly them to their destinations.

“The entire operation is proceeding normally,” Spanish Health Minister Mónica García said.

Authorities are aiming to complete the evacuation flights between Sunday and Monday, Spanish authorities and WHO said.

There are people of more than 20 different nationalities on board.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, along with Spain’s health and interior ministers, will supervise the operation in Tenerife, the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands off the coast of West Africa. Authorities have said the passengers and crew members who will disembark will have no contact with the local population.

Hantavirus usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.

The Spanish nationals on board will be transferred to a medical facility and quarantined, authorities said. Oceanwide has listed 13 Spanish passengers and one Spanish crew member on board.

Only Spanish nationals will quarantine in Spain, the cruise operator said.

Some Spanish passengers aboard the ship told The Associated Press that they’re concerned about being stigmatized once back on shore.

The U.S., the U.K. and the Netherlands have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens. Americans on board will be quarantined at a medical center in Nebraska.

Twenty-nine people will be on board the Dutch charter flight, including Dutch nationals and people of other nationalities, the Dutch Foreign Ministry said.

Five French passengers will be repatriated today, and will be in hospital for 72 hours for monitoring, after which they will quarantine at home for 45 days, France's Foreign Ministry said.

U.K. passengers and crew will be hospitalized for observation once they are flown home, British authorities say.

Australia is sending a plane expected to arrive Monday to evacuate its nationals and those from nearby countries like New Zealand, García said. Its plane will be the last to leave Tenerife, she said.

Norway has sent an ambulance plane to Tenerife with personnel trained for the transport of patients with high-risk infections, its Directorate for Civil Protection told public broadcaster NRK.

The ambulance plane is owned by the European Union, but operated by Norway.

Passengers and crew members disembarking will leave behind their luggage, and will be allowed to take only a small bag with essential items, a cellphone, charger and documentation.

Some crew, as well as the body of a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will sail on to Rotterdam, Netherlands where it will undergo disinfection, Spanish authorities said.

The expected sailing time to Rotterdam is around five days, the cruise company said.

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Suman Naishadham reported from Madrid. Angela Charlton in Paris, Jill Lawless in London, and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, contributed to this report.