A Dutch cruise ship with around 150 passengers on board was waiting for help off the coast of Cape Verde in the Atlantic Ocean on Monday after a suspected outbreak of the rare hantavirus onboard killed three people and left at least three others seriously ill, the World Health Organization and the ship's operator said.
The MV Hondius, which was on a weekslong polar cruise from Argentina to Antarctica and then several isolated islands in the South Atlantic, had requested help from local health authorities after making its way to the island of Cape Verde off the coast of West Africa, but no one was allowed to disembark, the company operating the cruise said late Sunday.
