Crew members on hantavirus cruise ship to be evacuated | First Thing

Several sick crew members are to be medically evacuated from vessel, as Canary Islands government objects to docking plans. Plus: the Mexico City nightclub that charges Americans 90% more

Good morning.

Several crew members on the MV Hondius are being prepared for medical evacuation to the Netherlands, as the cruise ship continues to be marooned off the coast of Cape Verde following a suspected hantavirus outbreak that is believed to have killed at least three passengers.

What is hantavirus? It is a rare disease that is usually spread from infected rodents typically through urine, droppings and saliva.

What is the plan for the ship? It planned to sail to Spain’s Canary Islands, where the Spanish health ministry would work alongside the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and World Health Organization to examine and treat the crew and passengers before repatriating them to their respective countries.

On Wednesday, the Canary Islands government said it opposed the plan and was requesting a meeting with the Spanish prime minister over it.

What did Project Freedom achieve? The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, said the US had successfully secured a path through the waterway and that hundreds of commercial ships were lining up to pass through. So far, however, only two merchant ships are known to have passed through, with hundreds more – carrying up to 23,000 crew members – bottled up in the Persian Gulf.

What is the US end game? Rubio said that for peace to be achieved, Iran must agree to Trump’s demands on its nuclear program and to open the strait.

This is a developing story. Follow the live blog here.

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