A first for the British army: soldiers and equipment parachuted onto a remote island in the Atlantic to assist a former passenger of the MV Hondius displaying hantavirus symptoms

The first evacuations of around 150 passengers and crew members from the cruise ship MV Hondius, where an outbreak of hantavirus was detected, began on Sunday, May 10 in a port in the Canary Islands. On the previous day, the British military brought medical supplies to a resident living on an isolated island.

This was the only way to help a British citizen showing symptoms of hantavirus. Several British military personnel parachuted onto Tristan da Cunha Island on May 9 to assist one of their nationals.

The island is considered one of the most isolated inhabited territories in the world, as announced by the British Ministry of Defense.

Oxygen bottles and other medical supplies were also parachuted onto the island, which has no landing strip and is located in the southern Atlantic Ocean.

“This operation marks a first for the British military,” said the Ministry of Defense in a statement, adding that it demonstrates “its ability to intervene very quickly worldwide for various missions.”

The British resident who resides there was on board the MV Hondius and disembarked in mid-April. It was only two weeks later that he showed the first symptoms of hantavirus. Currently in isolation, he is in stable condition.

Les passagers évacués

On the MV Hondius, the first evacuations of around 150 passengers and crew members of the cruise ship began on Sunday, May 10 in a port in Tenerife, Canary Islands, an operation that will not end until Monday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed six cases of hantavirus among eight suspected cases, including three people infected with this known but rare virus, for which there is no vaccine or treatment.

In total, more than a hundred people are to be evacuated in the coming hours from the MV Hondius. From the ship, the passengers are being transferred to the mainland in groups of five, where they will be immediately taken to Tenerife-South Airport, located about ten minutes away, to be repatriated by plane to their home countries.

Currently, all passengers of the MV Hondius, which departed on April 1 from Ushuaia, Argentina, are considered “high-risk contacts” and will be under surveillance for 42 days, according to the WHO.