An ambulance boat approaches the pilot door on the starboard side of the cruise ship MV Hondius, while stationary off the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on May 5, 2026. - / AFP
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday, May 5, it was tracing people on a flight between the island of Saint Helena and Johannesburg, taken by a cruise ship passenger who died of hantavirus. A total of 82 passengers and six crew were on board the April 25 flight from the British island in the Atlantic Ocean, South African-based carrier Airlink told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
They included a Dutch woman whose husband died of the virus on the ship and whose condition "deteriorated during a flight to Johannesburg," WHO said in a statement. She had left the ship in Saint Helena with "gastrointestinal symptoms" on April 24, flew the next day and died upon arrival at the emergency department of a Johannesburg hospital on April 26, the WHO said. On May 4, tests for hantavirus proved positive. "Contact tracing for passengers on the flight has been initiated," the WHO said.
Airlink operates one flight a week from the island, which takes around four hours and 45 minutes. The South African authorities had asked the airline to notify the passengers that they must contact the health department, a representative, Karin Murray, told AFP.
