YouTuber Ruhi Cenet has said he is in quarantine after travelling on a cruise ship linked to a hantavirus scare, as authorities continued to evacuate passengers and crew. He said he had been in contact with Turkey’s Health Ministry from the first day he learned there was a virus on board.
The online creator made the remarks after videos of him on the ship drew attention online. He said, “Hello, there is a lot of misinformation and false news circulating about me. I have absolutely no illness. I have been in contact with the Ministry of Health and in quarantine since the first day I learned there was a virus on the ship.”
The ship, the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, had reported hantavirus cases while docked at Granadilla de Abona port in Tenerife, in Spain’s Canary Islands. Officials said about 150 passengers and crew from 23 nationalities were being evacuated.
Authorities said the first group to leave the vessel included 14 Spanish passengers and a World Health Organization epidemiology specialist who had boarded the ship in Cape Verde. Spain’s Health Ministry said French and Canadian passengers were flown home after that first transfer.
Officials added that Dutch, Turkish, British, Irish and US passengers were due to leave Tenerife airport by the end of the day on flights to their home countries. The evacuation started at 09:30 local time.
France’s Health Minister Stephanie Rist later said one of the five French nationals evacuated from the ship had tested positive for hantavirus. She said the other four tested negative and would be quarantined in Paris.
The US Department of Health and Human Services said on social media that 17 US nationals had been evacuated. It said two of them were being kept under protection because they needed extra care, while one passenger had a slightly positive hantavirus test and another had mild symptoms.
Hantavirus infections are usually spread by contact with rodent droppings, urine or saliva, or by inhaling contaminated dust. Symptoms can include fever, muscle aches, dizziness, headache, abdominal pain and breathing problems, according to health authorities.
The case has drawn wider attention because of the nationality mix on board and the speed of the evacuation. For travellers, the incident underlines the disruption that can follow when a contagious disease is detected on a ship, even before all test results are known.
Health officials have not said how many people on board ultimately tested positive overall. The evacuation and follow-up testing were still under way as the situation developed.
