Coronavirus nightmare for passengers stuck on MS Zaandam ‘death ship’
- Four elderly people have died on the cruise ship which has started its transit through the Panama Canal
- Passenger said ship doctor told her that 40 per cent of the crew were sick
For passengers on a Holland America Line cruise ship, a fun-filled voyage on the luxury liner is quickly turning into a nightmare with deteriorating conditions on board and fears of a full-blown coronavirus outbreak after four travellers died and two others were infected.
“We are stuck on this death ship,” said Yadira Garza, who is on board with her newlywed husband. “We are freaked out and terrified that we will be infected too. It’s just a matter of time if we stay on the ship.”
Passengers on the Zaandam, currently off the coast of Panama, say they are desperate to get off the liner after Chile wouldn’t allow the vessel to dock. The company also said all ports on the ship’s route have also refused entry. Guests and their family members have taken to Twitter to plead for help.
Then came some good news on Saturday: the ship’s captain announced Holland America is moving some passengers to a sister ship, the Rotterdam, because so many crew members have gotten sick, said Garza. The Panamanian government also agreed to let the Zaandam sail through the Panama Canal, reversing an earlier decision to block passage.
On Sunday, small boats ferried passengers who’d been deemed healthy after answering a short medical questionnaire, and didn’t have a fever, from the Zaandam to the Rotterdam. Crew members took passengers in groups of 20 or so, instructing them to sit a few feet apart and not touch anything as a sort of on-board social distancing, said Andrea Bergmann Anderson, who watched the manoeuvres through the sealed window of her cabin inside the Zaandam.