The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Minex) of Guatemala reported what happened to the Guatemalan member of the crew of the cruise ship MV Hondius, where a hantavirus outbreak was reported and which disembarked passengers in Spain.
He added that the Guatemalan is in good health and traveled on the May 10 flight that landed at the Eindhoven military base, Netherlands, along with 26 other people evacuated from the cruise ship.
He added that the Guatemalan Embassy in the Netherlands was present at the military base to receive him and made itself available to provide him with the consular assistance he requires during his stay in that country. He stated that he will continue to follow up on the case.
Meanwhile, the Government of Guatemala expressed its gratitude to Spain and the Netherlands for the efforts and coordination provided to safeguard the well-being of all the occupants of the cruise ship, especially that of the Guatemalan citizen.
He also recognized Spain’s humanitarian decision to authorize the disembarkation of the cruise ship, in accordance with the principles of solidarity and international law.
The Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius refuels and finalizes preparations in the Canarian port of Granadilla (Tenerife, Atlantic) to depart for the Netherlands, once the disembarkation of the rest of the passengers who did not do so on Sunday is completed this Monday, May 11.
A total of 94 passengers from the cruise ship, anchored in front of the port of Granadilla, disembarked since Saturday to take different flights that took them to their places of origin, and another 24 are scheduled to do so this Monday.
The ship-to-ship supplying operation, common at anchorages, will last between four and five hours, depending on the pressure applied, explained this Monday the president of Puertos de Tenerife, Pedro Suárez.
The anchoring and disembarking operation of passengers in the port of Granadilla, coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Government of Spain, “has worked very, very well, despite the extraordinary situation,” Suárez highlighted, at the expense of what happens throughout the day.
The last people are scheduled to disembark on Monday afternoon, taking two flights: one to Australia, which will transport six people, and another to the Netherlands, with 18 passengers.
The ship anchored early Sunday morning with 151 people on board: 147 passengers and crew, as well as two epidemiologists from the Netherlands and two representatives of the WHO and the SDC, an organization dependent on the International Maritime Organization.
The cruise had departed on April 1 from the port terminal of Ushuaia, the southernmost city in Argentina, bound for Cape Verde.
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