Europe set to evacuate people from hantavirus-stricken cruise ship

Econews, in a report citing IRNA, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska was quoted as saying on Saturday that Germany, France, Belgium, Ireland, and the Netherlands would send their planes for the evacuation process.

According to him, the European Union has also allocated two other planes to evacuate citizens from other European states, whereas the United States and Britain are planning to send emergency planes for non-European nationals whose countries are unable to send planes.

Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is due to meet Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Madrid before travelling to Tenerife with the Spanish interior and health ministers to coordinate the ship's arrival and evacuation.

Local authorities have warned that the evacuation will take place from Sunday afternoon or Monday evening, due to extremely rough and stormy weather conditions.

MV Hondius, with around 150 people onboard, resumed its journey to Spain on May 6 after being stranded near Cape Verde in the central Atlantic Ocean off the coast of West Africa due to the deadly virus outbreak.

The WHO said Friday that eight people on the ship had fallen ill, three of whom have died, including a Dutch couple and a German citizen. Of those infected, six have been confirmed to have hantavirus, and two are still suspected.

Hantavirus is usually transmitted by rodents, but in rare cases it can also be transmitted from human to human.