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Get you up to speed: Cruise ship captain reassures passengers after hantavirus deaths reported

The captain of the MV Hondius reported that a Dutch man died from “natural causes” during the cruise in the Atlantic Ocean. Both the man and his wife, who had developed hantavirus, had visited Ushuaia, Argentina, before boarding the ship.

The captain of the MV Hondius stated that a passenger had died from “natural causes” during a cruise, and assured that the ship was safe and “not infectious”. Meanwhile, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), two British passengers who returned from the cruise independently have been advised to self-isolate at home.

Martin Anstree, a British crew member evacuated from the MV Hondius, is currently in isolation in a hospital in the Netherlands while undergoing tests for hantavirus. Two other British passengers who have returned to the UK independently have been advised by the UK Health Security Agency to self-isolate at home.

Moment hantavirus captain tells passengers cruise is ‘not infectious’ | News World

The captain of a cruise ship where three people died after hantavirus broke out told passengers there was ‘nothing infectious’ involving the first death.

Footage shows passengers gathered in a seating area when the captain of MV Hondius says a Dutch man has died from ‘natural causes’ as they sailed through the Atlantic Ocean.

But both he and his wife, both 69, had developed the rat virus and brought it aboard the ship after visiting the city of Ushuaia, Argentina.

The captain said: ‘One of our passengers sadly passed away last night. Tragic as it is, we believe it is from natural causes.

‘I am told by the doctor it is not infectious, so the ship is safe when it comes to that.

‘It happens at sea sometimes. Very sad, very tragic.’

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He added that as we were in the middle of the Atlantic, they were ‘only a few places they could go to’.

Cruise ship captain reassures passengers after hantavirus deaths reported
Martin Anstee was evacuated off the ship after developing symptoms (Picture: Facebook)

One of the crew mates added ‘the gentleman got sick’ a few days before he passed, with his wife still on board.

The pair, from Denmark, are believed to have visited a landfill site during the birdwatching trip and may have been exposed to rodents carrying the deadly infection.

The husband died on April 11 after suffering with flu symptoms for five days, and his body went ashore at Saint Helena on April 24 alongside his wife.

His wife then fell ill and died in Johannesburg on April 26. A German national also died on the ship on May 2.

Mandatory Credit: Photo by ANP/Shutterstock (16863910f) Ambulances at Schiphol East. The second medical evacuation plane with a sick Brit on board the cruise ship Hondius is en route to the Netherlands. The 56-year-old man has symptoms of hantavirus. Second Cruise Ship Evacuation Plane en Route to the Netherlands, Schiphol - 07 May 2026
Forensics are seen leaving an aircraft after a patient was evacuated at Schiphol-East (Picture: ANP/Shutterstock)

One passenger, Cenet, accused the ship of not taking the outbreak seriously enough.

He said: ‘They didn’t even consider the possibility of having such a contagious disease.

‘They didn’t take the problem seriously enough.’

The family of the couple at the centre of the outbreak said: ‘We cannot yet comprehend that we have to miss them. We want to bring them home in peace and remember them.’

A British crew member who was evacuated from the ship and has symptoms of the virus has been named as Martin Anstree.

A drone view of the cruise ship MV Hondius, carrying passengers suspected of having cases of hantavirus on board, leaves Praia, Cape Verde, May 6, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
A drone view of the cruise ship MV Hondius, carrying passengers suspected of having cases of hantavirus on board (Picture: Reuters)

The 56-year-old is a former police officer turned wildlife photographer, and was on board as an expert birdwatching guide.

He told Sky News from hospital in the Netherlands: ‘I’m doing OK. I’m not feeling too bad. There are still lots of tests to be done.

‘I have no idea how long I’ll be in the hospital for. I’m in isolation at the moment.’

His wife Nicola told the Telegraph it had been ‘a very traumatic few days’.

She added: ‘He’s relieved to be off the ship. He had it quite mild then it got a bit more serious and now he’s stable again.

‘The fear with this virus is it can deteriorate very quickly so it’s been a bit up and down for him.

‘I don’t believe he’s in imminent danger now but it was horrible.’

Two other Brits who returned independently to the UK from the cruise ship have been told to self-isolate at home, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said.

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‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents

A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.

Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.

She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.

In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.

“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”

She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.

McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”

She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”

At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.

McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.

The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.

But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.

The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.

Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.

It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.

Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.

“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”

She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/virginia-mccullough-arrest-video-murder-parents-chelmsford-b2627978.html

Sarah Wilkinson
Sarah Wilkinson@swilkinsonbc
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says @MahaGaza : the real number exceeds 400,000
Carol Voderman
Carol Voderman@carolvorders
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate Or far far worse
Zarah Sultana
Zarah Sultana@ZarahSultana
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs. To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.

Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.

The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.

During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.

Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.

Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.

Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.

Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.

The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.

At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.

“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.

The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.

It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.

The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.

Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.

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