One of the sick patients affected by the hantavirus Andes outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, which ended up landing at the Gando air force base in Gran Canaria after an electrical problem was detected in the aircraft, has taken off this Thursday morning in a different medicalized plane. This was reported by the Ministry of Health first thing this Thursday morning.
This situation, parallel to the arrival of the cruise ship with 149 people on board in the Canary Islands, occurred throughout Wednesday afternoon, after the departure of the medicalized planes from Cape Verde, where the ship was waiting anchored off the coast of Praia, on Santiago Island.
Specifically, the failure occurred due to the rupture of the isolation bubble. Spain required as a condition for landing in Gran Canaria that no one get on or off the plane, a requirement that guarantees it has been respected.
Meanwhile, a plane that initially transported the sick, later took off without passengers or patients on board, only with the crew. This aircraft made a technical stop in Valencia to refuel and then continued its route to Rotterdam.
The Spanish Ministry has sent a message of reassurance and has assured that "the operation is being carried out following the established health and safety protocols, in coordination with the competent authorities and the company responsible for the transfer".
Health sources have highlighted that the plane had to make a stop to refuel in Morocco, but the African country refused, so Spain was asked to be allowed to use Gran Canaria airport. Upon making the stopover, the doctor reported a failure in the patient's electrical support system.
The decision for the cruise ship to head to the Canary Islands was made after days of conversations between the World Health Organization, which coordinates the operation, along with the Government of the Netherlands, the Government of Spain, and the Government of Cape Verde, as well as other involved institutions.
This cruise will arrive in Tenerife next Saturday, May 9, with 149 people on board, including one corpse.
