The United States said on Friday that it was arranging a return flight for Americans on the Netherlands-based cruise ship struck by a hantavirus outbreak. The ship had sailed to the Canary Islands, a part of Spain.
“The Department of State is arranging a repatriation flight to support the safe return of American passengers on this ship,” said a spokesperson for the department.
The department also said it was working with the Spanish government and other U.S agencies.
“We are in direct communication with Americans on board and are prepared to provide consular assistance as soon as the ship arrives in Tenerife, Spain,” the anonymous spokesperson said.
The Dutch ship, MV Hondius, had 17 Americans on board, according to the ship operator. However, the State Department did not immediately confirm the number of passengers.
Three passengers on the ship, including a married couple from Netherlands and a German woman, have died, while others have contracted the illness which is typically spread among rodents. The outbreak in the ship was confirmed to be due to a variant of the virus, called Andes strain, which is the only type of hantavirus that can spread through human contact.
The ship is scheduled to reach Tenerif on Sunday. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the evacuation flight will subsequently take the American passengers to the Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska and then, to a national quarantine facility at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
“At this time, the risk to the American public remains extremely low,” said the CDC.
The health care network Nebraska Medicine and the University of Nebraska Medical Center said the American passengers would be taken care of in the government-funded National Quarantine Unit.
In a statement, they said, “At this time, the individuals being monitored are well with no symptoms of illness.”
