Tehran: Tenerife: Several European countries are poised to dispatch aircraft to evacuate their citizens from the luxury cruise ship MV Hondius, which is en route to the Spanish island of Tenerife following a deadly hantavirus outbreak among its passengers.

According to Islamic Republic News Agency, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska announced that Germany, France, Belgium, Ireland, and the Netherlands are preparing to send planes for the evacuation process. Additionally, the European Union has allocated two planes to evacuate citizens from other European states. In parallel, the United States and Britain are making arrangements to send emergency planes for non-European nationals whose countries lack the resources to dispatch their own aircraft.

Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is scheduled to meet with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Madrid before traveling to Tenerife alongside the Spanish interior and health ministers to oversee the ship's arrival and the subsequent evacuation.

Local authorities have indicated that the evacuation is expected to occur between Sunday afternoon and Monday evening, contingent upon improving weather conditions, as the region is currently experiencing severe storms.

The MV Hondius, carrying approximately 150 passengers, resumed its voyage to Spain on May 6 after being stranded near Cape Verde in the central Atlantic Ocean due to the outbreak. The WHO reported that eight individuals aboard the ship have fallen ill, with three fatalities, including a Dutch couple and a German citizen. Six cases have been confirmed as hantavirus infections, while two remain suspected.

Hantavirus is primarily transmitted through rodents, although human-to-human transmission, while rare, can occur in certain cases.