The first batch of passengers evacuated from a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship docked off the coast of Tenerife in the Canary Islands in Spain has arrived in Madrid. The first batch comprising fourteen Spanish nationals were brought through chartered flight from Tenerife Island and will now face mandatory quarantine at a military hospital in the capital.

Passengers are being evacuated by nationality, with French nationals reportedly the second group to leave the island. Spanish authorities, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions said none of the more than 140 people on the MV Hondius is showing symptoms of the virus. Spanish authorities and WHO said that authorities are aiming to complete the evacuation flights by tomorrow. 

The cruise ship reached Tenerife early this morning, after leaving Cape Verde, an archipelago nation off the West African coast on 6th of this month. Three people have died since the outbreak, and five passengers who left the ship are infected with hantavirus, which can cause life-threatening illness.