The U.S. government is preparing an emergency evacuation flight to transport 17 Americans from the cruise ship MV Hondius after a hantavirus outbreak linked to the vessel killed three people and infected multiple passengers.
Federal officials said the evacuation operation is being coordinated with Spanish authorities as the ship prepares to dock in Tenerife in the Canary Islands between Sunday and Monday.
According to reports, the outbreak aboard the luxury expedition vessel has been linked to eight cases of hantavirus, including five confirmed infections and three suspected cases.
Health officials said three people connected to the outbreak have died, prompting international concern because the Andes strain of hantavirus involved in the outbreak can spread between people in limited situations.
The State Department told CBS News the evacuation aircraft is being chartered through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Passengers are expected to disembark in small groups after undergoing hantavirus testing while international authorities coordinate transportation and quarantine procedures involving multiple countries.
The Americans will reportedly be flown to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha before being transferred to the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s specialized biocontainment and quarantine facility.
The CDC also plans to send a support team to Nebraska as health officials conduct exposure risk assessments for the evacuated American passengers arriving from the vessel.
Michael Wadman, medical director of the university’s National Quarantine Unit, said each traveler will remain isolated in individual quarantine rooms while medical monitoring continues.
“Each individual will have their own room,” Wadman said while discussing preparations for the arrival of passengers potentially exposed to the virus during the voyage.
Wadman said the facility includes internet access, exercise equipment and accommodations designed for longer quarantine periods if extended monitoring becomes necessary for exposed travelers.
The biocontainment unit opened in 2019 through a $20 million federal grant and previously treated Ebola patients and some of the earliest COVID-19 patients during the coronavirus pandemic.
Nebraska Medicine CEO Dr. Michael Ash said the hospital system was specifically designed to handle dangerous infectious disease outbreaks and similar public health emergencies involving international travelers, per the Daily Mail.
Health officials said none of the American passengers currently show symptoms of hantavirus, though several passengers who already departed the ship are under quarantine in multiple US states.
Authorities said Americans connected to the outbreak are being monitored in Arizona, California, Georgia, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia following earlier departures from the ship.
The World Health Organization said the broader public risk remains low, while President Donald Trump said Thursday that officials believe the outbreak is “very much, we hope, under control.”
