Three fatalities in Hantavirus outbreak on Dutch cruise ship.

Three people have died and a further five people have been infected in an outbreak of Hantavirus on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius, according to a press release issued by the World Health Organization on 8 May 2026. The disease, which is caused by the Virus Orthohantavirus andesense, is a zoonotic disease (disease with a reserve in a wild Animal population which sometimes spreads to Humans) causing a hemorrhagic or pulmonary fever. It is not easily passed from Human-to-Human, but can do so when people are living together in close conditions in an environment such as a cruise ship.

The outbreak is thought to have begun with an 70-year-old male Dutch national who boarded the ship at Ushuaia, on the Argentinian part of Tierra del Fuego, on 1 April 2026, after spending three months touring Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. This patient developed symptoms at sea, and died on 11 April before the ship reached any port. He is considered a probable case, as no microbiological tests were carried out. 

The MV Hondius, a 106.7 m Polar Class 6 vessel, designed for luxury touring in polar regions with a minimal environmental impact, which was hit by Hantavirus outbreak in April and May 2026. Oceanwide Expeditions.

The second patient to develop the disease was the original patient's 69-year-old widow, who had been travelling with the first patient and joined the ship with him. She developed gastrointestinal symptoms at sea, and left the ship when it arrived at Saint Helena on 24 April, and flew to Johannesburg the following day, where she boarded a flight to Amsterdam, where her condition deteriorated rapidly, causing her to be removed from the plane and moved to a local hospital, where she died on 26 April. She was confirmed as being infected with Orthohantavirus andesense by polymerise chain reaction testing carried out by the South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases.

The third patient, another adult male, started to show symptoms on 24 April, and was evacuated from the ship when it put into Ascension Island on 27 April. This patient was also airlifted to Johannesburg, where he is being treated in an intensive care unit. This patient was also confirmed as being infected with Orthohantavirus andesense by polymerise chain reaction testing.

A fourth patient, and adult female German national, developed a fever on 28 April, while the ship was sailing between Ascension Island and the Cape Verde islands, and died of pneumonia on 2 May, before the ship made it to port. This patient was later confirmed to have died of Hantavirus by post-mortem examination.

The fifth patient, the ship's doctor, began to develop symptoms on 30 April, and was confirmed as having Hantavirus by polymerise chain reaction testing when the ship reached Cape Verde on 6 May, and was airlifted to the Netherlands, where he is currently being treated in an isolation unit. 

The sixth patient, a guide employed on the ship, reported mild respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms on 27 April. He was also diagnosed with Hantavirus infection by polymerise chain reaction testing when the ship reached Cape Verde and airlifted to the Netherlands.

A seventh patient, who disembarked from the ship at St Helena on 22 April and flew home to Switzerland via South Africa and Qatar, began to show symptoms on 1 May. He immediately self-reported to medical authorities in Switzerland, and is now being treated in an isolation unit there.

An eighth patient, who disembarked from the ship at Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic on 14 April, began to show symptoms on 28 April. He is now being treated in isolation, although results of testing for the Virus have yet to be returned.

A ninth patient with Hantavirus-like symptoms was evacuated at Cape Verde and airlifted to Germany, but was later found not to be infected.  Efforts are still being made to trace 32 other patients who disembarked at Saint Helena and dispersed to a variety of countries before the nature of the outbreak was understood. After leaving Cape Verde the ship sailed to the Canary Islands, where it was met by medical personnel from the World Health Organization and a variety of countries, where both passengers and crew were screened for the Virus before being allowed to travel on to their home countries, where they will be required to undergo a period of isolation. A skeleton crew and medical personnel remained on the ship while it was sailed to the Netherlands to be thoroughly disinfected. 

Stops made by the MV Hondius during the outbreak. On 11 May, the ship was en route to Rotterdam. Wikipedia.

A flight attendant on the Johannesburg-Amsterdam flight from which the second patient was removed also later developed symptoms, and was admitted to a hospital in Amsterdam. Two Singaporean nationals who had been on the ship and subsequent flight from Saint Helena to Johannesburg were tested for the Virus after one developed Hantavirus-like symptoms, but neither was found to be infected. Attempts are still being made to trace passengers from both fights.

Hantavirus infections are caused by triple single-stranded negative-sense RNA Viruses of the genus Orthohantavirus. These Viruses are typically found in Rodents, with 28 species known, each of which infects a different species of Rodent. These Viruses occasionally jump species and infect Humans, where they break down into two groups, Old World Hantaviruses, which can cause a hemorrhagic fever accompanied by a severe kidney infection, and New World Hantaviruses, which cause a severe respiratory disease.

Structure of the Andes Hantavirus. Lexi Schoonover/Hope College/Wikimedia Commons.

The Andes Hantavirus, Orthohantavirus andesense, is found in Long-tailed Pygmy Rice Rats, Oligoryzomys longicaudatus, a wild Rodent found in the southern Andes of Chile and Argentina, where it does not appear to produce any symptoms. It can be transmitted to Humans through the inhalation of  aerosols that contain rodent saliva, urine, or feces, through the consumption of contaminated food, or by being bitten or scratched by a Rat.

A Long-tailed Pygmy Rice Rat, Oligoryzomys longicaudatus, the wild vector of the Andes Hantavirus. Yamil Hussain/Wikimedia Commons.

There is no effective treatment or vaccine for Hantavirus, and the disease is best prevented by using cleanliness and good hygiene to keep Rodents from entering Human dwellings or workplaces. If this fails a pest control consultant should be used to remove the Rodents. Placing infected patients in intensive care with fluids and, if necessary, artificial respiration, can help, but even with these precautions about 30% of patients typically die. Patients who have been infected with the disease and survive are generally immune to further infections with the same Virus.

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Oil spill on the coast of Tobago, following wreck of mystery barge.

An oil slick has spread over 160 km on the Caribbean Sea following the wreck of a barge off the coast of the island of Tobago on 7 February 2024. The wreck was not reported by the barge's owners, but instead was spotted by beachgoers who reported it to the Tobago Emergency Management Authority. The barge has capsized on Cove Reed, off the southern coast of the island, and oil from it has spread over reefs and beaches along the southern tip of the island, as well as spreading across the Caribbean Sea towards Grenada and Venezuela.

An aerial image of the capsized barge. Office of the Chief Secretary of Tobago.

The barge appears to have been an unmanned and unpowered vessel, and has the word 'Gulfstream' painted on its side. As an unmanned, unpowered vessel it would not have been required to register with the International Maritime Organization, nor to carry an Automatic Identification System tracker, although it would have been partnered with a manned tugboat, which should (in theory) have complied with both of these requirements.

Before and after satellite images from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission show the scale of the oil spill that occurred off the shores of Trinidad and Tobago’s coastline earlier this week. The vessel, identified as the Gulfstream, ran aground and overturned off the southern shores of Tobago Island. The final image of the animation, captured at 10.18 pm GMT on 14 February, shows the oil spill has travelled over 160 km westwards. The spill is moving out of Trinidad and Tobago’s marine area and into Grenada’s southernmost marine area – which could affect neighbouring Venezuela. Satellite radar is particularly useful for monitoring the progression of oil spills because the presence of oil on the sea surface dampens down wave motion. Since radar basically measures surface texture, oil slicks show up well – as black smears on a grey background. European Space Agency.

An investigation by the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard found that a barge identified as the Gulfstream left Panama en route for Guyana coupled to a tug called the Solo Creed on 12 January 2024, and that authorities in Guyana reported that neither vessel arrived there. The Solo Creed, identified by the Vessel Finder website as a Tanzanian registered towing vessel, which visited Aruba on 20 January, and was last detected off the coast of Venezuela on 4 February.

An image of the capsized barge on 10 February 2023. Tobago House Assembly/AFP.

The Bellingcat investigative agency has identified a double-hulled barge capable of carrying 60 000 barrels of oil (i.e. 9.5 million litres) called the Gulfstream which was coupled to a tugboat called the Marlin, operating within the United States until 2012, which appears to be a good physical match for the vessel off the coast of Tobago. The Marlin was sold to the Panamanian San Martin Group in 2014, and while there are no official records of the Gulfstream after this, Bellingcat has found photographic evidence of the two vessels operating together between Panama and Venezuela between 2015 and 2020. The Marlin was sold on to another Panamanian company, Star Goods Petroleum, in 2021, and has not transmitted its position since. The Gulfstream was observed in the Astinave shipyard in Ecuador in February 2022, but has not been sighted since. Bellingcat suspect that the renamed Marlin and Gulfstream may still be operating together, as part of a 'ghost fleet' carrying embargoed Iranian oil to Venezuela. Many oil-carrying vessels operating out of Venezuela are considered to be poorly maintained to the point of being dangerous, and the Marlin and Gulfstream, if still operating together, would be 60- and 58-years-old respectively; both vessels would have been built with a planned lifetime of 30 years.

Oil spills are potentially harmful to marine life in a variety of ways. Most obviously it can coat the outside of organisms, causing damage to external structures such as the feathers of Birds and fur of Mammals, as well as smothering many marine invertebrates and plants. It also contains a variety of chemicals which can be directly toxic upset the hormonal balance of many animals. Oil also impedes the feeding of marine organisms, coating both food and feeding organs, but provides an excellent food source for Bacteria, which can lead to Eutrophication events - dramatic increases in Bacteria numbers, which then use all the oxygen in the water, leading other organisms to asphyxiate.

Workers from state own Heritage Petroleum Oil and Gas Company, the state oil company of Trinidad and Tobago, clean up an oil spill that reached Rockly Bay beach, in Scarborough, south western Tobago. Akash Boodan/AP.

Many fishermen on the southern part of Tobago are reporting vessels and equipment damaged by exposure to oil, and beaches across the southern part of the island being forced to close to tourists at the height of the tourist season. Volunteers and local specialists have recovered about 2000 barrels of oil from beaches on Tobago, but the vessel is still leaking and will probably need to be emptied of oil before it can be refloated and the damage repaired.

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Typhoon Doksuri makes landfall in China, after leaving at least 39 people dead in the Philippines.

Typhoon Doksuri made landfall in Fujian Province, China, on the morning of Friday 28 July 2023, after claiming at least 39 lives as it passed across the Philippines earlier this week. The dead in the Philippines include a mother, her child, and two other children that were in the same house when it was buried by a landslide at Baguis in Benguet Province, on Wednesday 26 July. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall. These combined often lead to catastrophic flooding in areas hit by tropical storms.. Also in Benguit Province a 17-year-old was killed in a lamdslip triggered by heavy rains. In Isabela Province, a woman selling bread from a bicycle cart was killed by a falling tree. The majority of those who lost their lives, however, were on a ferry travelling town of Binangonan on Luzon Island and the smaller island of Talim, which capsized about 50 m after setting sail. Thirty people have now been confirmed dead following this incident, with many more still missing.

The MV Princess Aya, which capsized shortly after leaving the port of Binangonan on Luzon Island on Thursday 27 July 2023. The vessel overturned after encountering strong winds associated with Typhoon Doksuri, killing at least 30 passengers. The ferry is believed to have had about 70 people onboard when it sank, despite being licenced for only 40. The captain and engineer of the vessel have been arrested and may face charges. Rappler.

After passing over the Philippines Typhoon Doksuri swept to the south of Taiwan, brining with it winds gusting at up to 191 km per hour, and rains of up to 70 mm. Around 4000 people were evacuated from vulnerable areas as a precaution, and all internal and most international flights were grounded as a precaution. In the event there have been no major damage or casualties reported, although about 15 700 houssholds temporarily lost their power. In Fujian Province around 400 000 people were evacuated from areas deemed at risk, all boats were required to return to port as a precaution, and almost all transport services were suspended. No casualties have been reported in Fujian, and the only significant damage was to a sports stadium, which lost part of its roof.

Waves associated with Typhoon Doksuri battering the coast of Fujian Province, China, on Thursday 27 July 2023. Wei Peiquan/Xinhau/AP.

Tropical storms are caused by the warming effect of the Sun over tropical seas. As the air warms it expands, causing a drop in air pressure, and rises, causing air from outside the area to rush in to replace it. If this happens over a sufficiently wide area then the inrushing winds will be affected by centrifugal forces caused by the Earth's rotation (the Coriolis effect). This means that winds will be deflected clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anti-clockwise in the southern hemisphere, eventually creating a large, rotating Tropical Storm. They have different names in different parts of the world, with those in the northwest Pacific being referred to as typhoons.

The formation of a tropical cyclone. Natural Disaster Management.

Despite the obvious danger of winds of this speed, which can physically blow people, and other large objects, away as well as damaging buildings and uprooting trees, the real danger from these storms comes from the flooding they bring. Each drop millibar drop in air-pressure leads to an approximate 1 cm rise in sea level, with big tropical storms capable of causing a storm surge of several meters. This is always accompanied by heavy rainfall, since warm air over the ocean leads to evaporation of sea water, which is then carried with the storm. These combined often lead to catastrophic flooding in areas hit by tropical storms. 

The formation and impact of a storm surge. eSchoolToday.

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Hurricane Eta exposes nineteenth century shipwreck on the coast of Florida.

Hurricane Eta swept across central Florida on 12 November 2020, causing eleven fatalities, in addition to the 178 it had already claimed in Central America, in addition to causing widespread flooding and causing about a billion dollars' worth of damage to property. After the storm had passed it was discovered that high tides brought on by the hurricane's storm surge had scoured the beach at the Fort Matanzas National Monument in St John's County on the east coast of Florida, exposing the remains of a ship that had been burried by the sand. 

 

Exposed timbers on the foreshore at Fort Matanzas National Monument, believed to have come from an nineteenth century shipwreck. CNN.

The site is now being investigated archaeologists from the St. Augustine Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program and students from Flagler College, who have determined that the remains probably belong to the Caroline Eddy, an American merchant ship which sank in the area on 29 August 1880, after becoming caught in a storm.

 

Chuck Meide of the St. Augustine Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program examaning timbers believed to have come from the Caroline Eddy, a merchant ship which sank off the coast of Florida in August 1880. St Augustine.

Tropical storms, known as hurricanes in the Caribbean, are caused by solar energy heating the air above the oceans, which causes the air to rise leading to an inrush of air. If this happens over a large enough area the inrushing air will start to circulate, as the rotation of the Earth causes the winds closer to the equator to move eastwards compared to those further away (the Coriolis Effect). This leads to tropical storms rotating clockwise in the southern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere. These storms tend to grow in strength as they move across the ocean and lose it as they pass over land (this is not completely true: many tropical storms peter out without reaching land due to wider atmospheric patterns), since the land tends to absorb solar energy while the sea reflects it.

 

The formation of a tropical cyclone. Natural Disaster Management.

Despite the obvious danger of winds of this speed, which can physically blow people, and other large objects, away as well as damaging buildings and uprooting trees, the real danger from these storms comes from the flooding they bring. Each drop millibar drop in air-pressure leads to an approximate 1 cm rise in sea level, with big tropical storms capable of causing a storm surge of several meters. This is always accompanied by heavy rainfall, since warm air over the ocean leads to evaporation of sea water, which is then carried with the storm. These combined often lead to catastrophic flooding in areas hit by tropical storms. 

 

The formation and impact of a storm surge. eSchoolToday.

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Burning oil tanker off the coast of Sri Lanka raises concerns of potential new pollution event in the Indian Ocean.

Concerns are being raised about the possibility of a major new pollution incident in the Indian Ocean originating from a burning oil tanker off the coast of Sri Lanka. The Panamanian-registered, Liberian-owned MT New Diamond, classified as aa Very Large Crude Carrier, suffered an explosion in its engine room on Thursday 3 September 2020, in which one crew member, described as a Philippine national, died. Since then the remaining 22 members of the crew, all Greek and Philippine nationals, have been evacuated, but fire-fighting  and rescue teams from the Sri Lankan Navy, Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard, Indian Air Force, and Russian Navy have been unable to contain a fire on board the ship that resulted from the explosion. A small amount of oil has been sighted leaking from the ship, and a 2 m crack has been seen in the hull, though at the current time this is above the water. The vessel is currently about 65 km off the coast of Sri Lanka, and being towed further away, but there are concerns that if the fire cannot be brought under control, or the majority of the 2 million barrels (318 million litres) of crude oil on board removed safely, then the incident could present a major threat to the beaches of southern India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives.

 

The MT New Diamond, currently on fire off the coast of Sri Lanka. EPA.

The MT New Diamond is owned by the Monrovia-based Porto Emporios Shipping Inc., but had been chartered by the Indian Oil Corporation to ship Kuwait Export Crude from the port of Mina Al Ahmadi in Kuwait to the Indian port of Paradip, where the Indian Oil Corporation has a refinery capable of processing 300 000 barrels of crude oil per day. Like many such vessels it is registered in Panama, home to the world's largest shipping registry. Panama has long been accused of having exceptionally lax shipping regulations, and recent incidents involving Panama-registered ships in harbours or close to shores in Lebanon, the Yemen, Venezuela, and Mauritius, have led to widespread criticism of the registry even within the shipping industry.

 

Fire burning aboard the MT New Diamond on 3 September 2020. Indian Navy.

Oil spills are potentially harmful to marine life in a variety of ways. Most obviously it can coat the outside of organisms, causing damage to external structures such as the feathers of Birds and fur of Mammals, as well as smothering many marine invertebrates and plants. It also contains a variety of chemicals which can be directly toxic upset the hormonal balance of many animals. Oil also impedes the feeding of marine organisms, coating both food and feeding organs, but provides an excellent food source for Bacteria, which can lead to Eutrophication events - dramatic increases in Bacteria numbers, which then use all the oxygen in the water, leading other organisms to asphyxiate.

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