Cruise Ship in Suspected Deadly Outbreak Stuck Off Cape Verde
(Bloomberg) — A cruise ship carrying 149 passengers and crew suspected of harboring a rare respiratory virus that may have caused three deaths is stuck near Cape Verde as health authorities rush to investigate.
Passengers and staff from 23 different countries are isolating on board, according to the ship’s Dutch operator, Oceanwide Expeditions BV. One British passenger who was evacuated and placed in intensive care in South Africa carried a variant of hantavirus — a rare infection that typically spreads to humans through contact with infected rodents.
The people who died — a Dutch couple and a German passenger — and two sick crew members who remain on board are considered suspected cases, the World Health Organization said in a post on X.
Local health officials have visited the vessel — the MV Hondius — but they haven’t allowed sick passengers to disembark, Oceanwide said Monday. It’s working with the WHO, embassies and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it added.
The ship may sail further north in the Atlantic Ocean to Las Palmas or Tenerife in the Canary Islands — the nearest European Union territory — as a gateway for disembarkation and further medical screening and handling, the company said.
People can become infected with hantavirus by breathing in contaminated particles, often in enclosed or poorly ventilated spaces that contain the urine, droppings or saliva of infected rats and voles.
“There are multiple possible scenarios,” Charlotte Hammer, assistant professor and infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Cambridge, told the UK Science Media Center.
“It is not entirely uncommon for rodents to hitch a ride on a ship, which would be one possibility,” she said. “People having been infected when the ship last made port in Argentina is another possibility. The last possibility would be human-to-human transmission, which particularly at scale would be very unlikely.”
In severe cases, the infection can lead to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a condition that causes fluid to build up in the lungs and makes breathing difficult. Early symptoms often resemble the flu — fever, fatigue and muscle aches — but can quickly worsen.
Person-to-person transmission is uncommon, but has been reported in limited outbreaks. “While rare, hantavirus may spread between people, and can lead to severe respiratory illness and requires careful patient monitoring, support and response,” the WHO said.
MV Hondius is the first-registered Polar Class 6 vessel in the world, according to Oceanwide Expeditions’ website. On this trip, it carried 19 passengers and four crew members from the UK, 17 passengers from the US, 13 from Spain, eight from the Netherlands and seven from Germany, including the deceased. A majority of crew members hail from the Philippines. Of the two staffers who are ill, one is British and the other is Dutch.
No other person with symptoms has been identified, Oceanwide said, adding that “strict precautionary measures are in process on board, including isolation measures, hygiene protocols and medical monitoring.”
Investigations are ongoing, including lab testing and efforts to trace how the virus could have spread. Medical care and support are being provided to passengers and crew, the WHO added, with an effort underway to determine the genomic sequence of the virus.
“WHO is facilitating coordination between member-states and the ship’s operators for medical evacuation of two symptomatic passengers, as well as full public health risk assessment and support to the remaining passengers on board,” the agency said.
Because the ship is sailing under a Dutch flag, the Netherlands is coordinating consular assistance for passengers, including for those with other nationalities, the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
–With assistance from Naomi Kresge, Janice Kew and Charlotte Hughes-Morgan.
©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
