Hundreds of Australians and Kiwis are rescued after fortnight of hell in coronavirus cruise ship

Dozens of people flying into Melbourne airport tomorrow could be infected with deadly coronavirus.  

Uruguay has evacuated 112 Australians and New Zealanders from a coronavirus-plagued cruise ship anchored off its coast for more than a fortnight.

Aurora Expeditions, the operator of the Greg Mortimer ship, has chartered an evacuation flight from the Uruguayan capital Montevideo.

It is scheduled to leave on Saturday morning local time and arrive in Melbourne on Sunday, with passengers to go into 14 days of isolation in a hotel.

Of the returning passengers around 70 per cent of people on board the flight could have coronavirus.

The ship’s operator confirmed this week 128 of 217 people on board, nearly 60 per cent, had tested positive for the coronavirus but all were asymptomatic.

‘Our priority remains getting everyone on board disembarked as soon and as safely as possible,’ an Aurora Expeditions spokesman said in a statement. 

Passengers from the Greg Mortimer Cruise Ship carry their luggage across the tarmac after being allowed off the ship for the first time in two weeks 

An ambulance waits by the Greg Mortimer cruise ship to take away sick passengers, including five Australians who have been hospitalised in Uruguay’s capital – Montevideo  

‘It has been a very harrowing time for all involved.’

However, the Foreign Affairs Department told AAP on Friday five Australians had been evacuated from the Greg Mortimer and hospitalised in Montevideo.

Uruguay had originally refused to let passengers off the cruise ship but later sent medical teams on board and monitored the situation via WhatsApp.

Most of the ill crew and passengers have mild symptoms and are stable, Uruguay public health ministry director-general Karina Rando said.

‘We have intensive care beds, doctors are available and we are not putting the care of our population at risk,’ Ms Rando told the Associated Press. 

Passengers are checked by healthcare workers as they disembark the Greg Mortimer Cruise Ship in Uruguay 

An ambulance drives away after picking up sick passengers off the Greg Mortimer cruise ship

The Greg Mortimer departed on March 15 on a voyage to Antarctica and South Georgia but has been docked off the coast of Montevideo since March 27

‘We have the logistical and professional capacity to serve these people.’

A sign hanging from a balcony on the ship said ‘Thank you, Uruguay’.

The Greg Mortimer departed on March 15 on a voyage to Antarctica and South Georgia but has been docked off the coast of Montevideo since March 27.

The evacuated passengers, comprising 96 Australians and 16 New Zealanders, will be repatriated using a ‘humanitarian corridor’ with strict biosecurity measures. 

The Uruguay government has evacuated 112 passengers from New Zealand and Australia who were stuck on the Greg Mortimer cruise ship for more than a fortnight

Passengers display a sign saying ‘Thank you Uruguay’ using a bedsheet from the cruise ship

They will be driven in four buses to Montevideo’s Carrasco airport escorted by police and have their luggage disinfected prior to boarding.

A refitted plane operated by charter airline Hi Fly will take them to Melbourne. 

Medical personnel would also accompany them on the repatriation flight, with the company footing the bill for the journey under insurance.

‘The plane will be set up into risk zones, with passengers seated by test results and level of care required by the passenger,’ Aurora Expeditions said.

The NZ government plans to reach out to its citizens directly to organise a transfer upon arrival in Australia, Aurora Expeditions said.

More than 280,000 Australians have returned home in recent weeks, with about 6200 of them disembarking from 45 cruise ships around the world.

An Airbus A340 waits on the tarmac to conduct a repatriation flight. The flight will land in Melbourne on Sunday

Passengers are seen boarding the plane after being evacuated from the cruise ship in the darkness

A healthy passengers boards the plane back to Australia after two weeks trapped on the Greg Mortimer cruise ship

 

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