Passengers from an Australian cruise ship stranded off the coast of Uruguay for two weeks with more than 100 novel coronavirus infections on board arrived at Montevideo's international airport Friday.
Following an agreement between the governments of Uruguay and Australia, about 110 passengers from the Greg Mortimer are due to board a medically equipped Airbus A350 plane to take them to Melbourne and bring to an end weeks of virus nightmare.
The Australians and New Zealanders were taken along a "sanitary corridor" from Montevideo's port to its international airport after the ship was finally allowed to dock following two weeks anchored in the Rio de la Plata, around 20 kilometers off the Uruguayan coast.
"Everything (is going) as planned," Uruguay's Defense Minister Javier Garcia told reporters as he awaited the passengers' arrival at the Carrasco airport.
Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne tweeted her thanks to her Uruguayan counterpart Ernesto Talvi "for your sincere assistance in recent times to ensure the (Australian) passengers have been able to head home."
The Australian and New Zealand tourists -- including people who tested negative and others confirmed ill with the virus -- traveled by bus with a police escort, sirens blazing along Montevideo's long promenade, straight to the runway without entering the terminal.
The plane is due to take off in the early hours of Saturday.
"If everything goes well, Uruguay will be completing a complex but necessary humanitarian mission," said Talvi at the port.
Some passengers hung a banner from the boat with the words: "Thank you Uruguay." "We don't consider it an option, but rather an ethical obligation," said Talvi.
Of the 217 people -- passengers and crew -- on board, 128 have tested positive.
On the plane, passengers will 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 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 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 are in sufficiently good health to travel.
Two are a couple who were brought ashore and taken to a hospital on Wednesday suffering from pneumonia, while the third person had been receiving clinical attention since last week.
Of the other people receiving hospital treatment, two Australians are in intensive care and their partners remained on the Greg Mortimer rather than taking the flight.
Two Filipino crew members are due to be discharged and released to quarantine on the ship. The eighth person to have received hospital treatment is a British woman.
Uruguay's government considers all people on board infected, even if they haven't tested positive.
"There will be practically no human contact" between the passengers and others during the transfer operation, Talvi said this week.
Aurore said it was covering the transfer costs for all passengers and that New Zealand was organizing further travel on from Melbourne for its citizens.
After the evacuation more than 80 crew members, as well as around 20 Europeans and Americans, will remain on board.
Those who have tested positive for the virus "will have to wait until they test negative" before heading home via Sao Paulo, Aurore said on Tuesday.
Those who have already tested negative will be allowed to leave in the coming days, provided they first pass another test.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
