Cape Verde Holds MV Hondius Over 3 Deaths on Hantavirus Cruise Ship
Three passengers died after a hantavirus cruise ship outbreak aboard the MV Hondius, and Cape Verde authorities refused to let passengers disembark after the vessel reached the island nation. The ship carried 88 passengers and 61 crew from 23 nationalities on a 35-day Atlantic expedition that began in Ushuaia on 1 April.
The first death on the Hondius involved a 70-year-old Dutchman, who developed respiratory symptoms on 6 April and died five days later. His 69-year-old wife later disembarked with his body at St Helena on 24 April, after the ship had already stopped at South Georgia and Tristan da Cunha.
Jake Rosmarin on the Hondius
Jake Rosmarin, a travel blogger and passenger aboard the ship, posted a video on Monday calling for certainty and a way home. He said, “We’re not just a story, we’re not just headlines, we are people – people with families, with lives, with people waiting for us at home,” and added, “There’s a lot of uncertainty, and that’s the hardest part. All we want right now is to feel safe, to have clarity and to get home.”
Rosmarin’s remarks place the stranded passengers at the center of the story. They are on a vessel that has now been tied to the first recorded onboard hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship, a comparison that sets it apart from earlier cruise ship illness episodes involving norovirus, flu and Covid.
Jan Dobrogowski and the first death
Ship captain Jan Dobrogowski told passengers after the first death, “Tragic as it is, it is due to natural causes, we believe.” The World Health Organization says hantavirus can kill up to half of those it infects, while health authorities have stressed that human-to-human transmission is very rare.
That leaves the next decision with Cape Verde authorities and the ship itself: the passengers remain aboard, the deaths have already changed the voyage, and the vessel is still carrying people from 23 nationalities who boarded for a 35-day expedition and expected to end it on land, not in limbo at sea.
