U.S. plans evacuation for Americans on cruise ship in hantavirus outbreak

U.S. U.S. plans evacuation flight for Americans on cruise ship in hantavirus outbreak By Mark Osborne May 8, 2026 / 1:32 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google The United States government is sending a repatriation plane for the painstaking process of safely evacuating 17 Americans from the cruise ship dealing with a deadly hantavirus outbreak.The plane is being sent by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Department of Health and Human Services, and will be used to transport Americans back to the U.S. in conjunction with Spanish officials, according to the U.S. State Department.The MV Hondius, the cruise ship at the center of worldwide concern over spread of the rare virus, is currently traveling from Cape Verde to the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the west coast of Africa. It is expected to reach the coast of Tenerife, the largest of the seven Canary Islands, early Sunday local time. Sometime between Sunday and Monday, the Hondius will undergo the process of slowly removing passengers in order to avoid spread of the virus.Since officials in the Canary Islands refused to allow Hondius to dock in Tenerife, the boat will instead anchor offshore.The disembarkation will happen country by country, Spanish officials said at a press conference Friday. Once passengers are confirmed asymptomatic, they will disembark the Hondius in groups of five in small boats to take them to shore. They will then get on buses and go straight to the airport runway, where their nation's plane will already be ready for takeoff, the Spanish officials said. "I repeat one more day: All the areas they are going to travel through are going to be isolated," Virginia Balcones, the secretary general of civil protection, said. "There will be no contact with civilian personnel." Health personnel returning from the cruise ship MV Hondius are seen at the port of Praia, Cape Verde, on May 6, 2026, as several people with suspected cases of hantavirus infection wer...