Cruise ship quarantined after deadly virus outbreak kills three and leaves passengers stranded

A deadly virus outbreak on a cruise ship that no government was willing to accept sounds like a nightmare scenario.

In reality, life aboard the MV Hondius, where a hantavirus outbreak occurred, settled into a strange routine marked by an uneasy sense of normality.

Passengers reportedly adopted a “Blitz spirit,” adjusting to Covid-style health restrictions while waiting to find out when they would be allowed to disembark. The group of wildlife enthusiasts later described the experience as a mix of fear, uncertainty, and small moments of comfort amid the isolation.

Qasem Elhato, 31, said: ‘Our days have been close to normal, just waiting for authorities to find a solution.

‘We kept ourselves busy with reading, watching movies, having hot drinks and that kind of thing.’

It must have been surreal for the 150 passengers to watch their fate being played out on the world’s media, seeing their destiny being decided by faceless officials.

Things started to go awry on the ship when Dutchman Leo Schilperoord died on April 11. His wife Miriam and a German woman died a few days later. Hantavirus was detected and quickly traced back to the ship.

Passenger Helene Goessaert told Belgian broadcaster VRT: ‘You don’t embark on a trip with the idea that one of your fellow passengers won’t make it.’

After the outbreak was declared, people from several countries who had been on the ship were told to isolate for 45 days.

Meanwhile, those onboard were stuck, rejected from disembarking at Cape Verde, and more cases were reported.

As terrifying as the situation might have been on the ship, panic does not appear to have gripped the tourists.

One spoke about watching the Champions League semi-finals, another said spirits were raised when fresh fruit and vegetables arrived.

But there was also division.

Jake Rosmari filmed an emotional video in which he said through tears: ‘We’re not just a story. We’re not just headlines. We’re people with families, with lives, with people waiting for us at home.’

Kasem Hato apparently criticised Rosmari saying the situation had been ‘blown out of proportion’ adding this was ‘partly because of one person panicking on the ship whose video has been circulating [in] the media.’

Hato said: ‘While his reaction is valid, it doesn’t represent the situation on board, everyone else (148 out of 149) has been calm, the situation is under control and we just wish those who are sick a speedy recovery.’

Captain Jan Dobrogowski also issued a video message praising passengers and crew for their courage and perseverance.

He said: ‘I could not imagine sailing through these circumstances with a better group of people, guests and crew alike.’

That video came after footage emerged of him initially announcing the first death while insisting it was not infectious.

Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organisation, told Sky News about the mental state of passengers.

He said: ‘As you can imagine, there were even mental breakdowns for some passengers. It’s very difficult to stay on a small container for a few weeks; you can imagine how it affected them mentally.’

How did hantavirus get on board?

The first person to die was Leo Schilperoord, 70, on April 11, followed by his wife Miriam a few days later after being flown to Johannesburg for treatment.

They had travelled through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay before boarding the ship, according to WHO.

It is suspected that they picked up the virus while birdwatching at a landfill site in Argentina.

A German woman had ‘fever and general malaise’ on April 28 before testing positive and dying of hantavirus aboard the ship on May 2.

Several people who were on the ship have tested positive or fallen ill, including:

• One of 17 Americans who had been returned to the US on Sunday ‘tested mildly’ positive while another had ‘mild symptoms’, the US Department of Health said.
• The ship’s doctor and a guide are ‘stable in isolation’ after being flown to the Netherlands.
• A man who disembarked at St Helena, a remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean, tested positive and remains at a Swiss hospital.
• A British man on the island of Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic is suspected of having been infected.

The MV Hondius is expected to reach its final destination in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on Sunday evening, tour operator Oceanwide Expeditions said Monday.

A total of 27 people remain on board – 25 crew members and 2 medical professionals.

The nationalities of those remaining on board are as follows:

• Philippines – 17
• Netherlands – 4 (2 of whom are medical professionals)
• Ukraine – 4
• Russia – 1
• Poland – 1

The body of the deceased German passenger who died on May 2 remains on board and will be repatriated upon arrival to the Netherlands, the tour company said.

What is hantavirus and how is it spread?

Pharmacist Thorrun Govind tells: ‘Hantavirus is a group of viruses, not one specific virus, which is carried by rats and mice and can cause serious disease in humans.’

Catching hantavirus can lead to two main illnesses, one of which affects the lungs (Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome or HPS) and the other which affects the kidneys (Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome or HFRS).

The virus is contracted through exposure to rodent urine and droppings.

‘We’re really talking about breathing contaminated air because the virus becomes airborne when rodent urine or droppings dry out,’ Dr Govind explains.

‘You’ll need to be in the contaminated area for a prolonged amount of time, but you can get it from touching contaminated surfaces or from a bite or scratch – but that tends to be more rare.’

The incubation period for this illness is generally two to four weeks, but can range from as little as two days to as long as eight weeks.

‘It’s very rare for it to spread from person to person – this is not like Covid or flu,’ the pharmacist adds.

Is hantavirus in the UK?

In short, yes. But human-to-human transmission is incredibly rare, and medical experts have said the risk to the general public is low.

‘This is not something I would be worried about in the UK,’ Dr Govind explains.

‘It’s important people are aware of it, but we’re not going to be seeing a pandemic.’