MV Hondius arrives at Tenerife

The MV Hondius arrived at the port of Granadilla de Abona in Tenerife at 6am this morning, where passengers will be evacuated to the airport and flown to their native countries.

The cruiser, which has received global coverage after a hantavirus outbreak that killed three people, is lying at anchor offshore.  The first nationality to be evacuated will be the Spanish passengers and crew members. Planes from other nations “apart from two, which will arrive today” are already waiting at Tenerife Sur airport.

Chances of contagion to the general public are “very low”, according to the WHO and Spain’s Health Ministry, but the main damage of the incident could be to the relationship between Spain and the Canaries.

Madrid overruled the objections of Canarian President, Fernando Clavijo, to the arrival of the MV Hondius, who complained that he had been left out of a crucial meeting in Madrid and only discovered the decision to allow the cruiser to stop at Tenerife through the media.

Clavijo commented that the incident displayed “the historic centralisation, almost colonialist, “ of the Spanish government.