New Delhi: The two Indian nationals who were onboard the Hantavirus-hit Dutch-flagged vessel MV Hondius, along with around 150 individuals, have disembarked from the ship and evacuated to the Netherlands where they will be quarantined as per relevant health safety protocol.
“In the context of the Hantavirus outbreak, the ship anchored off the coast of Canary Islands of Spain. The passengers onboard disembarked from the ship, in accordance with the protocol established by WHO and Spanish authorities,” the Indian Embassy in Madrid, mentioning that the Indians onboard were “healthy and assymptomatic”.
The Embassy said that the ship anchored off the coast of Canary Islands of Spain, adding that the passengers onboard disembarked from the ship, in accordance with the protocol established by WHO and Spanish authorities.
The Spanish National Center for Emergency Monitoring and Coordination (CENEM) said that the two Indian nationals who were travelling as crew members, have been evacuated to the Netherlands where they will be quarantined as per relevant health safety protocol.
The Ambassador is in close contact with the Spanish authorities and the two Indian nationals and is regularly monitoring the situation to assure the well-being and safety of the Indian nationals, the embassy updated.
MV Hondius docked in Spain’s Port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, on Sunday. Health officials wearing hazmat suits boarded the ship to conduct a final check before the disembarkation began. Passengers were seen wearing PPE kits and faces masks. Spanish nationals were the first to leave the ship, ferried ashore in groups of five on small boats, transferred onto sealed buses, and taken to the local airport, from where they flew back to Madrid on a Spanish military plane with no contact with the public.
Repatriation flights were planned for passengers headed to the Netherlands, Canada, Turkey, France, Britain, Ireland and the United States.