Around 40 Passengers Disembarked from Hantavirus-Struck Ship

The MV Hondius, which departed Praia, Cape Verde, on May 6, 2026, had about 40 passengers disembark at the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena after the first hantavirus-linked death on board, Dutch officials said Thursday. Among those who left was the wife of a Dutch man who died; the cruise line said she disembarked with her husband’s body at St. Helena, later flew commercially to South Africa and subsequently collapsed and died at Johannesburg airport. The company had not previously acknowledged that multiple passengers had left the vessel at St. Helena. Authorities in South Africa and European countries are trying to trace contacts of people who disembarked there. It also emerged that a man in Switzerland tested positive for hantavirus after disembarking at St. Helena and returning home, though his precise movements on the island remain unclear. Dutch officials have not confirmed the current locations of the other passengers who left at St. Helena. Separately, the cruise line said a British man was evacuated to South Africa from Ascension Island several days later, and three people, including the ship’s doctor, were evacuated near Cape Verde and flown to Europe for treatment on Wednesday. To date three passengers have died and several others are ill; investigations and contact tracing are ongoing.