Seven Brits disembarked from hantavirus cruise ship mid-voyage

Seven British people disembarked from the hantavirus-hit ship mid-way through the cruise alongside a woman who later died, it has emerged.

A total of 29 people left the ship when it docked in the remote South Atlantic island of St Helena, including a Dutch woman who became unwell during onward travel and later died.

The woman was accompanying her husband’s body, which was being repatriated after he died on the ship on April 11.

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The major incident was reported on the MV Hondius, which was travelling from Argentina to Cape Verde

Tour operator Oceanwide Expeditions said in a statement: “On 1 April 2026, 114 guests boarded MV Hondius in Ushuaia, Argentina.

“30 guests disembarked MV Hondius on Saint Helena on 24 April 2026.

“This number includes the body of the guest who passed away on board MV Hondius on 11 April 2026.”

The 30 people who disembarked were from 12 nations, including seven Britons.

Oceanwide Expeditions said guests who disembarked have been contacted.

On Wednesday, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said that everyone on board should be considered as a “close contact”.

It comes after the UK Health Security Agency announced that two Britons who already returned from the vessel are isolating at home.

These passengers flew back to the UK via Johannesburg after getting off in St Helena.

Some 19 British nationals were listed as passengers on the MV Hondius, which was sailing from Argentina to Cape Verde, with four British crew members.

Two British people have been medically evacuated including crew member Martin Anstee, 56.

The expedition guide and former police officer was flown to receive specialist medical care in the Netherlands after being airlifted off the vessel on Wednesday.

A British passenger, understood to be a 69-year-old man, was medically evacuated to South Africa on April 27 and is receiving care at a private health facility in Sandton, Johannesburg.

It comes after UK health experts said that British passengers on board will be asked to self-isolate in the UK for 45 days.

Professor Robin May, chief scientific officer at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said “for the broader public, not directly involved in this cruise ship, the risk here is really negligible”.

But he told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme that those British passengers on the ship who are now on their way to Tenerife will be flown home and asked to self-isolate, most likely at home, for a period of 45 days.

The Foreign Office is arranging a charter flight so the remaining Britons on board the ship who are not displaying symptoms can be repatriated once they dock in Tenerife in the next few days.

According to the UKHSA, none of the British citizens on board is currently reporting symptoms, but they are being closely monitored.

Prof May said the “most extreme case of incubation” of hantavirus “may be up to eight weeks” but general consensus is people need to isolate for “probably six weeks, and so that’s the period of isolation, 45 days that we’re likely to be recommending”.

He added: “For the individuals that are on the ship at the moment, we’re working, obviously, to repatriate them as soon as we possibly can.

“The Foreign Office is leading on that, and once they’re back, they’re going to be asked to self-isolate.”

Asked about the two British passengers who left the ship and have returned home to the UK, Prof May added that contact tracing is happening for anyone who may have sat next to the two Britons on their flight home.

The two contacted health officials when they heard about the cases on the ship and are now voluntarily self-isolating in the UK. They do not have symptoms.

He stressed that hantavirus “is actually not that easy to transmit between individuals so a quick pass in an airport, for example, is not going to put you at risk”.

He added: “We focus our attention on people who might, for example, have been sat next to a passenger for a long time, several hours on the flight. Those are the people that we’re contacting.”

The outbreak, which has been linked to three deaths, has been connected to a birdwatching expedition in Argentina which two of the passengers went on before boarding the ship.

Despite concerns from locals and officials, Spanish authorities have given permission for the ship to dock in the Canary Islands.

The boat left the shores of Cape Verde at 19:15 (CET) on Wednesday, Oceanwide Expeditions said, with the journey to the port of Granadilla in Tenerife expected to take three to four days.

About 150 people are still on the cruise ship under “strict precautionary measures”, according to Oceanwide Expeditions.

Three people were evacuated from the ship on Wednesday to the Netherlands for treatment, including Mr Anstee.

Speaking from hospital, Mr Anstee told Sky News: “I’m doing OK. I’m not feeling too bad. There are still lots of tests to be done.

“I have no idea how long I’ll be in the hospital for. I’m in isolation at the moment.”

His wife Nicola told the Telegraph it had been “a very traumatic few days”.

She added: “He’s relieved to be off the ship. He had it quite mild then it got a bit more serious and now he’s stable again.

“The fear with this virus is it can deteriorate very quickly so it’s been a bit up and down for him.

“I don’t believe he’s in imminent danger now but it was horrible.”

The Associated Press reported the Argentine government’s hypothesis is that a Dutch couple contracted the virus during a birdwatching outing in the city of Ushuaia before boarding.

Two Argentine officials told the news agency that the couple visited a landfill during the birdwatching tour where they may have been exposed to rodents carrying the infection.

Passengers have been are confined to their cabins while “disinfection and other public health measures are carried out”, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday.