Irish citizens on cruise ship off Central America with coronavirus outbreak

Several Irish citizens are aboard a Dutch cruise ship currently off the coast of Central America which has a coronavirus outbreak.

Four people have died on the MS Zaandam, though it is understood that none of the deceased are Irish. The ship has 1,243 guests and 586 crew on board.

The Rotterdam-based liner had been seeking to dock in Florida, though it is unclear if it had been given permission. An operation is now underway to transfer healthy passengers from the ship to another vessel, its sister ship Rotterdam.

Dozens of guests have been suffering from influenza-like symptoms, the vessel’s operator said yesterday when the ship was off the coast of Panama.

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The Department of Foreign Affairs, including its embassy in Washington, is in contact with the Irish citizens on board.

A spokesman for the Department said: “The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is aware of the situation of the MS Zaandam, which is currently off the coast of Panama and expected to dock in the United States. We are in regular contact with all of the Irish citizens on board and are providing all possible consular assistance.”

MS Zaandam had been on a South American cruise that departed Argentina on March 7th and had been scheduled to end in San Antonio, Chile on March 21st. Nobody has disembarked from the ship since it docked in Punta Arenas, Chile nearly two weeks ago.