About 40 passengers previously left ship hit by Hantavirus outbreak at island of St. Helena
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — About 40 passengers from a cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak had already disembarked on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena after the first passenger died, Dutch officials said Thursday.
Dozens of passengers, including the wife of a deceased Dutchman, left the cruise ship during a stopover on British territory, the Dutch Foreign Ministry said.
The Dutch cruise line that operates the ship previously said the Dutch woman disembarked from the ship with her husband’s body in St. Helena. She then flew to South Africa on a commercial plane and died after collapsing at a Johannesburg airport.
However, the company has not acknowledged that anyone else got off the ship in St. Helena.
South African and European authorities are trying to trace the contacts of all passengers who got off the ship. It emerged on Wednesday that a man had tested positive for hantavirus in Switzerland after also disembarking in St Helena and flying home, although his precise movements were unclear.
Dutch authorities have not confirmed the current whereabouts of the other disembarked passengers.
A Briton was evacuated from the ship to South Africa from Ascension Island a few days later, the company said, while three people, including the ship’s doctor, were evacuated from the ship while it was near Cape Verde and taken to Europe for treatment on Wednesday.
Three passengers died in the outbreak and several others are sick.
