Tag Archives: Death

Hantavirus-Hit Hondius Passengers Repatriated to Home Countries

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Hantavirus-Hit Hondius Passengers Repatriated to Home Countries

Twenty British nationals evacuated from the Hondius are beginning 45 days of self-isolation in the UK after their chartered flight from Tenerife landed at Manchester Airport on May 10, according to the BBC.

The evacuees are isolating at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside for 72 hours before being asked to self-isolate for a further 42 days at home.

Seventeen American passengers from the vessel returned to the United States on May 11, landing in Nebraska, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

One American passenger tested mildly PCR positive for the virus, the department said, according to the New York Times.

The American passengers were transported to the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, the country’s only federally funded quarantine center.

Two of the American passengers traveled in specialized biocontainment units out of an abundance of caution.

One passenger had mild symptoms and the other was the passenger who had tested mildly positive for the Andes virus, the department said.

International passengers from 23 nationalities were repatriated to their home countries following the vessel’s arrival at Granadilla port in Tenerife on May 10 at 06:24 local time, according to Oceanwide Expeditions.

Spanish nationals were given priority during the evacuation process, the Spanish health ministry said.

Passengers were ferried to shore in small launch boats and underwent medical screening before boarding evacuation flights arranged by their respective countries. Luggage stayed on the ship and will be dealt with separately.

The disembarkation was coordinated by local authorities, the WHO and international governments, with the sequence timed to the arrival of repatriation flights.

No quarantine of non-Spanish nationals took place in Spain, Oceanwide Expeditions said.

The Hondius docked in the Canary Islands on May 10 after Spain granted permission for the vessel to sail from Cape Verde.

Crew Member Dies in Accident at Sea on P&O Cruise Ship

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Crew Member Dies in Accident at Sea on P&O Cruise Ship

British cruise ship Arvia was at sea when the accident occurred killing one crewmember (P&O file photo)

The British press and maritime authorities are reporting that a crewmember was killed yesterday aboard the P&O cruise ship Arvia. The ship was two days into a two-week cruise to the Caribbean from the UK.

The Arvia, which is 185,581 gross tons, is one of the largest cruise ships in the world, and with her sister ship Iona, is the largest operating from the UK. The Arvia was introduced by the UK’s P&O Cruises in 2022 and is 344 meters (1,128 feet) in length with accommodations for more than 6,600 passengers and approximately 1,800 crew.

P&O confirmed in a brief statement that there had been an onboard accident. It said its thoughts and prayers were with the onboard friends and family members. The company provided no further details.

While registered in Bermuda, the cruise ship is under the authority of the British, and the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch listed the incident today. It is posted it as a “lift shaft” (elevator) accident that happened on October 26. MAIB reports that it will investigate on behalf of the Bermuda Shipping and Maritime Authority.

The cruise had been en route to its first port in Tenerife. However, Puerto de A Coruña, on the northern Spanish coast, reported that the Arvia made a stop on October 26 from 3:00 p.m. into the night “following a workplace accident.” The ship stayed till around midnight and has resumed its trip to Tenerife.

The 19-month-old girl plunged 150 feet from the vessel in San Juan on Sunday

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The toddler is believed to have fallen from a window on the 11th deck - shown above the balconies - on Sunday afternoon

The toddler is believed to have fallen from a window on the 11th deck – shown above the balconies – on Sunday afternoon

A toddler has fallen to her death after slipping out of her grandfather’s arms on a cruise ship which was docked in Puerto Rico.

The 19-month-old girl from Indiana plunged 150 feet from the Royal Caribbean vessel in San Juan on Sunday afternoon.

Her maternal grandfather, identified as Salvatore Anello, is believed to have slipped and fallen while holding the toddler by a window on the 11th deck of the Freedom of the Seas ship.

Horrified passengers said they had heard a ‘cry of pain’ from the girl’s mother.

A diagram showing how the girl fell 150 feet from the ship's 11th deck on to the hard ground

‘[We heard] the screams of the families because we were close,’ a nearby passenger told Telemundo PR.

‘I looked because of the mother’s cry. That tonality, a scream of pain of that nature, does not compare with any other scream.’

The girl had a hard landing on the concrete of the Pan American dock in San Juan and died in hospital shortly afterwards.

The child and her extended family from Indiana were vacationing together aboard the Freedom of the Seas cruise ship, operated by the Royal Caribbean cruise line.

 Both her sets of grandparents, her parents and her younger brother were on board the ship at the time.

The child’s father has been identified by WSBT as South Bend police officer Alan Wiegand.

The South Bend Police Department in Indiana said in a statement: ‘The South Bend Police Department offers its sincerest condolences to Officer Alan Wiegand and his family during this difficult time following the tragic loss of their child while in Puerto Rico. The department asks the community to pray for the entire Wiegand family as they grieve and to respect their privacy.’

 A map showing San Juan in Puerto Rico where the girl fell to her death

The police chief Scott Ruszkowski disputed the statement issued by Puerto Rico police that the girl was being held out of an 11th-floor window.

Police Sgt Nelson Sotelo told The Associated Press that the family of the child will remain in the US territory until the investigation is complete.

‘They’re in shock,’ he said.

Department of Public Security official Elmer Román said the grandfather was playing a game with the child when she slipped from his arms.

The homicide division was investigating the death, he said.

‘It has not been possible to interview the family,’ he said, adding that they were being provided with medical and spiritual support.

El Vocero reported the grandfather was holding the child when he slipped and fell into the window, and the child then fell from his arms to her death.

People claiming to be familiar with the layout of the ship in an online forum said the 11th deck is a pool deck on the cruise ship, which would be the only place on the ship that would have open windows.

The call to authorities came in reporting the child’s fatal drop at 4.27pm Atlantic Standard Time, according to Primera Hora.

A spokesperson for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. told DailyMail.com: ‘We are assisting local authorities in San Juan, PR as they make inquiries after an incident aboard Freedom of the Seas earlier today.

‘We do not have further information to share at this point.’

Security camera footage from the ship has been requested by Prosecutor Ivette Nieves, who was conducting interviews with the passengers who observed the tragic fall.