Over 100 stranded cruise ship passengers leave for Australia

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Covid-19-free passengers evacuated from the coronavirus-stricken Australian liner Greg Mortimer board the medically equipped plane that will fly Australian and New Zealander passengers to Melbourne, at Carrasco International Airport early in Ciudad de la Costa, Canelones Department, near the Uruguayan capital Montevideo. — AFP photo

MONTEVIDEO: More than 100 Australians and New Zealanders left Uruguay on a chartered flight after two weeks stranded aboard a virus-infected cruise ship, Montevideo’s Carrasco airport said Saturday.

Of 217 people aboard the Greg Mortimer liner, 128 had tested positive for new coronavirus and had been blocked from docking.

An agreement between the Uruguayan and Australian governments was made to create a “sanitary corridor” to take the mostly elderly tourists from Montevideo’s port to its international airport where they boarded a flight for Melbourne, bringing to an end weeks of a virus nightmare.

Television images showed jubilant passengers boarding the medically equipped Airbus A350 plane – with one kissing the runway tarmac.

“This is (like) winning a World Cup,” Uruguay’s Foreign Minister Ernesto Talvi tweeted alongside a video of four buses – flanked by a police escort with blaring sirens – taking the roughly 110 passengers to the airport.

“Flags waving in the balconies and residents applauding. This is the BEST of Uruguay,” he added.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne tweeted her thanks to her Uruguayan counterpart Talvi “for your sincere assistance in recent times to ensure the (Australian) passengers have been able to head home.”

She added “special thanks to… all health, emergency & other workers involved” and praised the “unique cooperation” between Uruguay and Australia.

The Australian and New Zealand tourists on the flight included people who tested negative and others confirmed ill with the virus.

On the plane, passengers were to be “seated by test results and level of care required by passenger,” said Australian company Aurore Expeditions, owner of the Greg Mortimer.

The tourists were on an expedition to Antarctica, South Georgia and Elephant Island when their adventure was called off on March 20 due to the nearest South American countries – Argentina and Chile – closing their borders and imposing lockdowns.

The ship travelled to Montevideo as it was the nearest port still open.

It had been anchored in the Rio de la Plata, 20 kilometres from the coast since March 27.

Since then, eight people were transferred to Montevideo hospitals with “life-threatening” conditions.

All are in a stable condition and Uruguay’s foreign ministry told AFP three Australians undergoing hospital treatment would be allowed to fly home as they were in sufficiently good health to travel.— AFP