News. Cartoon of 08/05/2026 in CTXT
Translation of the cartoon: “The present insisted on presenting itself as the eternal opening scene of a disaster film”
For some time now, current affairs have seemed to me like the continuous start of a disaster movie that never ends. A sort of loop of announcements of disasters, wars and miseries that keep piling up, but anything resembling an exciting blockbuster with heroes and great deeds is always overshadowed by patriotic shoddiness. The opposition's political response to the arrival of the MV Hondius in Spain has been as embarrassing as it is disgusting.
Feijóo, just as the PP did during the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, asked to know the name of the experts managing the hantavirus crisis to see if they could make up some of the bullshit they like so much to smear all over the place. Santiago Abascal's bum, for his part, left another of his miserable contributions: accusing Pedro Sánchez of being "capable of provoking an epidemic so that people don't talk about the swamp of corruption he presides over".
The arrival in Tenerife of the luxury cruise ship MV Hondius of the shipping company"Oceanwide Expeditions" from the Netherlands was expected for midday on Sunday, but it seems that it has been brought forward and is likely to arrive in the port of Granadilla between 4:00 and 6:00 (Canary Islands time) in the early hours of Saturday morning and its occupants will be disembarked first thing in the morning.
On 1 April, the ship left Ushuaia, Argentina, for an adventurous voyage across the South Atlantic with 114 passengers and 61 crew members, including 14 Spaniards. Of these, 13 are passengers and one is a crew member.
On 11 April, the first passenger, a 70-year-old Dutchman, dies, presumably from breathing difficulties. The cruise ship continues on its route and groups of passengers disembark in different places. Later, the wife of the first deceased is transferred to South Africa with symptoms and also dies. Another person, a British man with symptoms, is also transferred to South Africa.
Thus, on 2 May, a German passenger dies and the WHO receives the first warning of a health incident. In South Africa, laboratory tests confirm an outbreak of hantavirus. 3 May The MV Hondius arrives in Praia, Cape Verde and the WHO confirms that it is a hantavirus outbreak. The Cape Verdean authorities refused the landing on the grounds that they did not have the means to deal with the health emergency and to protect "national public security". It is at this point that the possibility of a landing in Las Palmas or Tenerife is being considered.
So far there are three deaths, six confirmed cases and a number of other suspected cases.
You can follow the route of the MV Hondius in real time from VesselFinder.
The shipping company Oceanwide Expeditions has issued daily communiqués since 3 May, the latest on 9 May providing this information:
The vessel is scheduled to arrive in the port of Granadilla, Tenerife, on Sunday 10 May at 05:30 local time. All passengers and a limited number of crew members are expected to begin disembarking from the m/v Hondius in managed groups in Granadilla at around 08:00 local time. Once disembarked, they will be transferred immediately to their assigned aircraft.
Oceanwide Expeditions is not involved in planning and facilitating the selection and repatriation of guests. As described by the WHO, in partnership with various international organisations and governments, guests will be transported by air to their respective countries, where they will enter quarantine procedures. These procedures are determined by the respective national authorities. In Spain, no quarantine will be carried out on non-Spanish nationals.
Disembarkation will be carried out using the m/v Hondius Zodiac craft , or launch boats, with a maximum of 5 passengers per Zodiac or 10 passengers per launch in accordance with defined sanitary protocols. The disembarkation sequence will be coordinated with arriving repatriation flights. All guests' luggage will remain on board the m/v Hondius . Oceanwide Expeditions is in contact with all guests regarding the process for the safe return of all luggage.
Once the passengers and limited crew have disembarked, the m/v Hondius will refuel and take on the necessary supplies in Santa Cruz, Tenerife. The vessel will then transit to the port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with the remaining crew on board. Further details on the ship's arrival in Rotterdam will be provided as they become available. The expected sailing time to Rotterdam is about 5 days.
For all queries related to land-based processes, we refer to the WHO.
We would like to issue a confirmation of the following list of nationalities on board m/v Hondius in April. Among the 114 passengers who departed Ushuaia, Argentina on the m/v Hondius on 1 April, there are 3 passengers who had already travelled on the m/v Hondius from 20-31 March (Ushuaia-Antarctica-Ushuaia): 1 Greek national and 2 Dutch nationals. None of these three individuals developed symptoms.
For detailed information on the medical situation of the passengers and crew, both those currently on board the Hondius and those receiving medical care in various countries, please refer to the WHO website: https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2026-DON600. A statement by Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, is included: https://www.who.int/news/item/09-05-2026-message-by-the-who-director-general-to-the-people-of-tenerife-regarding-the-hantavirus-response .
