UPDATE 4:10pm:
The last flight scheduled to depart from Tenerife today will be heading to the United States.
At this time, 49 people of 14 different nationalities have been evacuated from the ship. The next passengers to be evacuated will be those from the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Ireland.
The last flight scheduled for Sunday as part of the repatriation operation for passengers of the cruise ship will depart from Tenerife South for the United States, according to the Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla.
Ministry of Health sources indicate that the disembarkation of passengers from the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius, with departures already completed for Madrid, France, and Canada, will conclude before nightfall.
UPDATE 1:15pm:
The Government confirms that the Hondius operation is proceeding “normally” and NO passengers have showed Hantavirus symptoms
The operation taking place in Granadilla port, following the arrival of the MV Hondius in Tenerife, continues to proceed “completely normally” and with no passengers showing any symptoms consistent with hantavirus. This was confirmed by the Minister of Health, Mónica García; the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres; and the Director-General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, during a press conference held at the port at lunchtime.
The minister confirmed that the plane with the 14 Spanish took off for Madrid safely, after disembarkation began around 9:30am.
UPDATE 11:55am:
The first plane with MV Hondius passengers takes off from Tenerife South Airport
The first plane to take off from Tenerife South Airport has the 14 Spanish passengers from the Hondius cruise ship on board, and is heading to Madrid.
Later this afternoon, the Spanish Air Force Airbus A-310 will land in Madrid, and the passengers will be admitted to the Gómez Ulla Military Hospital for a 42-day quarantine, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health.
UPDATE 11:40am:
The WHO says it would be inhumane to leave passengers on the ship even if they are healthy.
Diana Rojas, head of the emerging diseases unit at the World Health Organisation (WHO), has expressed her gratitude for the solidarity shown by the people of Tenerife and Spain towards the passengers and crew of the Hondius cruise ship, where a hantavirus outbreak has been declared.
She stated that although they appear healthy, it would be "inhumane" to allow them to continue their journey on the ship. Rojas confirmed that the WHO has examined those on board and that they remain asymptomatic, but clarified that a quarantine period of approximately 42 days is necessary because the virus can take up to six weeks to manifest.
UPDATE 11:05am:
The second bus of Hondius passengers departs for Tenerife South Airport
Not long after the departure of the first group of passengers, a second UME ‘bubble’ bus also left the port of Granadilla bound for Tenerife South Airport as part of the special operation activated to repatriate the passengers of the MV Hondius cruise ship.
The transfer is being carried out under strict security measures and with completely isolated corridors to prevent any contact with the general public. Passengers will board flights arranged by their respective countries to begin repatriation and medical protocols.
UPDATE 10:25am:
The disembarkation of the first passengers from the MV Hondius begins
The first passengers have begun disembarking from the MV Hondius cruise ship in the port of Granadilla de Abona, after several hours of onboard health screenings. The first to be evacuated are the 14 Spanish citizens, who will be taken directly to the Tenerife South Airport for a military flight to Madrid, where they will undergo quarantine under medical supervision.
The operation is being coordinated by the Spanish Government, the World Health Organization (WHO), and various countries involved in the repatriation of the passengers. All those on board the ship remain asymptomatic, according to the latest assessments conducted by the Port Health teams and epidemiological experts deployed to the vessel.
Passengers disembarking from the MV Hondius at the port of Granadilla. (Image: Álvaro Oliver)
UPDATE 9:55am:
29 passengers from the Hondius cruise ship will be repatriated to the Netherlands today (Sunday)
A total of 29 people aboard the Hondius cruise ship will be transferred today on a civilian aircraft to the Dutch air base in Eindhoven, the Dutch Foreign Ministry has confirmed. The group includes Dutch citizens and people of other nationalities, according to the local news agency NOS.
UPDATE 9:35am:
France will repatriate five people on the MV Hondius today via a medical flight
The five French citizens aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship, which is anchored in the port of Granadilla (Tenerife), will be repatriated to France "on a medical flight today," the French Ministries of Health and Foreign Affairs announced in a joint statement this morning.
Upon arrival in France, they will be "quarantined in a hospital for 72 hours, the time needed for a full evaluation," before being arranged "to return to their homes, where they will remain in isolation for 45 days under appropriate monitoring," according to the statement.
UPDATE 8:50am:
The Hondius operation will continue until tomorrow: not all passengers will be evacuated today, Sunday
The Minister of Health, Mónica García, has confirmed that not all passengers will be able to be evacuated from the MV Hondius today due to the logistical complexity of the operation.
The last scheduled flight will depart tomorrow, Monday, and will be a plane from Australia carrying six passengers to Australia, New Zealand, and other countries in the Asian area.
7:45am:
Passengers aboard the MV Hondius will begin disembarking in Tenerife from 8:00am this morning (Sunday), as authorities activate a major health and security operation following a hantavirus outbreak on board.
The evacuation plan prioritises the 14 Spanish nationals still on board, who will be the first to leave the ship. The cruise liner is currently anchored inside the port of Puerto de Granadilla after arriving at around 6:00am local time.
The operation will see these first passengers transferred progressively from the ship to shore under strict medical supervision, before being transported in UME military buses to the airport for flights back to mainland Spain from a separate, isolated part of the airport.
These will be followed by the passengers from other countries whose governments are also sending medicalised military planes to repatriate them back to their countries for isolation at specialist hospitals.
The whole operation is expected to last until tomorrow (Monday), when the MV Hondius will leave Tenerife to return to the Netherlands.
Strict health protocols in place
All passengers must wear FFP2 masks during disembarkation and transport. Emergency personnel and medical teams are operating in full protective equipment.
Four specialist health professionals remain on board overseeing and coordinating the response to the outbreak.
Among the first group to leave the vessel will be an international expert from the World Health Organization, who has been assisting with crisis management. The WHO technician will travel alongside the Spanish nationals on a military aircraft bound for Torrejón Air Base near Madrid.
From there, he will be transferred to the Hospital Central de la Defensa Gómez Ulla, in line with protocols activated by Spain’s Ministry of Health.
Military buses arrive at Granadilla Port to transfer passengers to waiting planes (Image: EFE)
Political clash over anchoring
The ship’s arrival has sparked a public dispute between the Canary Islands Government and Madrid.
Canary Islands President Fernando Clavijo said on Saturday that he would not authorise the ship’s anchoring in Tenerife, arguing that the region should not “be complicit in something that could endanger public health”.
Clavijo criticised what he described as a lack of dialogue and scientific explanation from the central government, questioning why passengers deemed healthy could travel on a bus but not on a commercial aircraft with spare capacity.
He also raised concerns about the possibility, however remote, of a rodent linked to hantavirus reaching shore if the ship remained anchored.
Health officials dismiss risk
Spain’s Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla, strongly rejected those claims, describing the health risk as “nil” and accusing Clavijo of politicising a complex international operation.
Padilla dismissed the idea of an infected rodent swimming ashore as unrealistic, stating that maritime health authorities had confirmed passengers on board are asymptomatic and that there are no rodents on the relatively new vessel.
He added that the hantavirus-carrying rodent species is typically found in mountainous environments, not marine settings, and noted that hundreds of cruises operate annually between Europe and South America without incident.
According to the Ministry of Health, the evacuation is being carried out under the European Civil Protection Mechanism and involves coordination between 23 countries. Officials have described the response as being conducted “in record time”.
For now, attention turns to this morning’s carefully managed disembarkation, as Tenerife hosts one of the most high-profile public health operations seen in the islands in recent years.
