The hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius leaves the port of Granadilla de Abona on the island of Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands on May 11, 2026.(AFP)
The cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak headed to the Netherlands on Tuesday after its last passengers disembarked in Spain's Canary Islands, with at least seven of the evacuees testing positive for the virus.
Three people died after the rare virus that usually spreads among rodents was detected on board the MV Hondius, sparking a global health scare.
Among living patients, seven cases have been confirmed and an eighth is listed as "probable", according to the WHO, the UN health body and certain national health authorities.
French officials said one woman who tested positive was hospitalized and in stable condition in intensive care.
No vaccines or specific treatments exist for the virus, but health officials have said the risk to the public is low and dismissed comparisons to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Dutch-flagged ship was expected to arrive in Rotterdam on Sunday evening, according to its operator, where it will undergo disinfection procedures.
More than 25 crew members and medical staff were still on board the ship, which is carrying the body of a German passenger who died during the voyage, but all passengers have now disembarked.
"Mission accomplished," Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia Gomez said on the quay of the port of Granadilla de Abona, in Tenerife, where a two-day complex evacuation procedure began on Sunday.
"Between yesterday and today, we have evacuated the 125 passengers and crew members from 23 countries, who have either already returned home or are in the process of being repatriated. The ship, as you can see, has just weighed anchor. It left the port today at 7:00 pm (1800 GMT)," she said on Monday.
The final cohort of 28 evacuees travelled on chartered buses to Tenerife South Airport and boarded two flights that landed in the Netherlands early on Tuesday.
One plane carried mostly crew members — 17 Filipinos, a Dutch national and a German — as well as a British doctor and two epidemiologists.
A second flight transported six other passengers — four Australians, a New Zealander and a Briton living in Australia — who would stay in a quarantine facility near the airport before being repatriated.
Wearing white medical overalls and facemasks, the evacuees disembarked from the air ambulance clutching white bags of their belongings, and walked into Eindhoven airport's terminal.
Spanish authorities said the cruise ship, which was originally only authorised to anchor offshore for the evacuation on health and safety grounds, had docked in port because of unfavourable weather.
At a news conference at the port, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is due to meet the Spanish prime minister in Madrid on Tuesday, sought to reassure the passengers.
He said they were in good hands now and that the situation could have become difficult if they stayed on the ship, but added that this "is not another Covid".
Among the completed repatriations, a French woman — one of five evacuees from France placed in isolation in Paris — started to feel unwell on Sunday night, and "tests came back positive", Health Minister Stephanie Rist said.
A Spanish passenger has also tested positive, the health ministry in Madrid said, adding that results for the 13 other Spanish evacuees were so far negative.
Spain's health ministry defended the rigour of the evacuations, where medical teams escorted passengers from the ship to an airport on Tenerife under close supervision and following health checks.
"From the start, all the measures adopted have aimed at cutting the possible chains of transmission... all measures for prevention and control of transmission have been applied," it said in a statement.
Of the five French passengers repatriated on Sunday, one woman who tested positive was placed in intensive care in stable condition, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu wrote on X.
In total, seven cases have been confirmed among living passengers, health officials have said.
Other suspected cases and potential close contacts with infected people are being investigated, with health authorities in several countries tracking passengers who had already disembarked from the ship, plus anyone who may have come into contact with them.
In a video shared on Monday by operator Oceanwide Expeditions, captain Jan Dobrogowski paid tribute to the "unity and quiet strength" of everyone on board and highlighted the "courage and selfless resolve" of the crew.
The MV Hondius left Argentina, where hantavirus is endemic, on April 1 for a cruise across the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Verde.
The WHO believes the first infection occurred before the start of the voyage, followed by transmission between humans on board the vessel.
But Argentine health officials have questioned whether the outbreak originated in the southern city of Ushuaia, based on the virus's weeks-long incubation period and other factors.
