Cruise passengers face being stranded at sea after hantavirus outbreak

Cruise passengers face being stranded at sea after hantavirus outbreakJust nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleJake LaphamWatch: On board MV Hondius off Cape Verde amid hantavirus outbreak"We're not just a story. We're not just headlines, we're people with families, with lives, with people waiting for us at home," said a tearful Jake Rosmarin. For the American travel vlogger on board the luxury cruise liner MV Hondius in the Atlantic ocean, a dream voyage has taken a deadly turn.He is among around 150 people from 23 countries on the vessel stranded near Cape Verde, off the west coast of Africa.Two confirmed and five suspected cases of hantavirus - a rare but severe disease usually spread by rodents - have since been identified.Three passengers on the ship have died and several more are either ill or displaying symptoms after the MV Hondius set sail from Argentina around a month ago.Health authorities are now racing to test samples from passengers and the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it has possibly spread among those on board.Crew are also working to find a port where the ship can safely dock after Cape Verdean officials declined to grant clearance earlier this week, leaving the vessel anchored nearby."There's a lot of uncertainty and that is the hardest part. All we want right now is to feel safe, to have clarity and to get home," Rosmarin told his followers on TikTok on Monday."We're not just headlines, we're people", says travel vlogger on board MV Hondius Unlike Rosmarin's emotional recount, another passenger on the ship, Kasem Hato, said "the whole situation has been blown out of proportion".He said this was "partly because of one person panicking on the ship whose video has been circulating [in] the media," an apparent reference to Rosmarin's video."While his reaction is valid, it doesn't represent the situation on board, everyone else (148 out of 149)...