Hantavirus outbreak aboard Antarctic cruise ship leaves three dead, seven ill
Passengers were told the MV Hondius was “not infectious” after a death, even as hantavirus later killed three people and sickened seven aboard.
Passengers on the MV Hondius were reassured the ship was “not infectious” just a day after the first death on board, a message that now sits at the center of mounting questions about crisis disclosure in an isolated setting where travelers had little ability to leave or distance themselves. The captain delivered the announcement on April 12, one day after a 70-year-old Dutch man died, while Ruhi Çenet, a 35-year-old Turkish travel vlogger, was filming the moment aboard the vessel.
Çenet had boarded the ship in Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 for a voyage tied to Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic. The vessel carried 88 passengers and 59 crew, many of them amateur birdwatchers aged 60 and up. In the footage he shot, the captain said, “I am told by the doctor that we are not infectious,” and told passengers the death was believed to have resulted from natural causes. Çenet later said the atmosphere on board did not reflect the seriousness of the situation, with communal meals continuing and passengers not wearing masks. He isolated himself as a precaution and said he regretted that the ship still docked at Tristan da Cunha after the first death, when passengers mixed with islanders in a remote territory with limited medical resources.
The medical picture quickly changed. The World Health Organization identified the Andes strain of hantavirus aboard the vessel, a variant that can spread from person to person. Anais Legand of the United Nations health agency said the first person to become ill could not have been infected during the cruise because hantavirus incubation runs from one to six weeks, pointing to an exposure before embarkation. By May 4, the agency had counted seven cases on board, including two laboratory-confirmed infections, five suspected cases, three deaths, one critically ill patient and three people with mild symptoms.
The first victim’s wife later died, and a German passenger died on May 2. The ship’s British doctor was also evacuated and was initially reported in serious condition before improving. On May 6, health workers in protective gear removed patients from the ship in Praia, Cape Verde, and two patients plus one suspected case were flown to the Netherlands; another evacuee was taken onward to Düsseldorf. Spain said the ship was expected to reach Tenerife within three days, with further evacuations to begin from May 11. Even so, the World Health Organization has said the global risk remains low and that the outbreak is not comparable to COVID-19.
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