Passengers on cruise ship to be flown from Uruguay to Australia
More than 100 passengers from Australia and New Zealand on board an Antarctica cruise ship moored off Uruguay will be flown from the South American country to Melbourne on Saturday, Uruguay’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
The vessel, called the Greg Mortimer, is set dock in the port of Montevideo on Friday, the ministry said. Then, 112 passengers from Australia and New Zealand will be brought by bus to the airport, accompanied by a police escort.
Some 60 per cent of the passengers on board, of a total of 200, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Originally, there were 217 people on board, most from Australia and New Zealand.
Uruguay’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the evacuation plane, which has been especially equipped and has medical personnel on board, was due to take off in the early hours of Saturday.
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Eight people have already been brought ashore and transferred to hospitals in Montevideo, according to local reports.
The ship originally set out for the Antarctic in mid-March but has been anchored off Montevideo since March 21, according to a report on Australian television channel ABC. (dpa)
