An Irish couple on board the Hantavirus ship, the MV Hondius are expected to be flown home tomorrow
The MV Hondius, better known as the ‘Hantavirus ship’, is currently sailing northwards off the West coast of Africa, en route to Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
The ship had been anchored near Cape Verde, which was its final destination on its voyage from South America, but the crew and passengers were not allowed to disembark after it emerged that some people had died after contracting Hantavirus.
The ship has since been granted permission to dock at Santa Cruz on Tenerife and is expected to arrive there tomorrow (Sunday). It’s understood that the Irish government is finalising plans to send an aircraft to bring the two Irish people on board the vessel back home to Ireland, where they are expected to be quarantined for up to 8 weeks.
Dockers hold banners reading ‘Workers of Tenerife port – TPT (Trabajadores del Puerto de Tenerife) – Respect Tenerife – we are not second-class’ as they protest against the arrival of a cruise ship affected by hantavirus in Santa Cruz de Tenerife on May 8, 2026. Passengers aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship affected by a deadly hantavirus outbreak will start being flown to their countries of origin after the vessel arrives on the Canary island of Tenerife on May 10, 2026, the Spanish government said. (Photo by JORGE GUERRERO / AFP via Getty Images)
However, locals and tourists alike in Santa Cruz have held street demonstrations to voice their opposition to the ship being allowed to dock on the island.
They say it puts the health of the people on Tenerife at risk.
So far, authorities have identified the first two passengers to die from the Hantavirus as an elderly Dutch couple who had been on a bird-watching expedition to South America.
ARGENTINA – 2009/10/22: The end of the world sign in Ushuaia, the capital of Tierra del Fuego in Argentina, with the Beagle Channel and the Russian icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov in the background. (Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images)
It’s understood they visited the massive landfill site at Ushuaia, also known as ‘The End of the World’, and may have contracted the virus there.
Ornithologist Leo Schilperoord, 70, and his wife Mirjam had boarded the vessel in South America.
Mr. Schilperoord died on board the ship, and his wife passed away as she was about to fly from South Africa to the Netherlands with his body. A German woman is also known to have passed away, while a number of others, showing symptoms, are being treated in isolation units in various hospitals.
ILLUSTRATION of a hantavirus testing concept with laboratory tubes containing cotton swabs and HANTAVIRUS labels alongside rat silhouettes in the background evoking rodent-borne transmission, photographed in Paris, France, May 4, 2026. (Photo by Joao Luiz Bulcao / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images)
Responding to the concerns surrounding the Irish citizens on board the ship, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that he and the government are ‘working actively’ to bring the two Irish citizens home.
He added that both of them aboard might have to quarantine once they return, saying: ‘Health Service Executive and public health protocols will apply. Obviously, quarantine and isolation will be part of that.
‘We have a duty of care to our citizens, we want our citizens to come back in a safe way, and we will do everything possible to facilitate that,’ Mr Martin continued. ‘That’s our obligation.’
