Three passengers are dead, and a hundred and fifty people are quarantined across a dozen countries. The legal questions are just getting started.

The M/V Hondius is an expedition cruise ship, taking passengers to remote corners of the world that most people see only  in documentaries. But lately, it has been making a different kind of news. A confirmed outbreak of Andes-strain hantavirus has killed three passengers and sickened others, triggering one of the more complicated international repatriation efforts in recent memory. Up to 150 passengers and crew are being flown home on military transports and government aircraft, where quarantine awaits them — the length and conditions depending entirely on which country they call home.

First, the Virus

Hantavirus is carried by rodents and spreads when people breathe in particles from infected rodent urine, droppings, or saliva. Most strains cannot pass from person to person. However, the Andes strain (the strain confirmed aboard the Hondius) is the exception. It is the only hantavirus known to transmit between humans, which is why authorities are taking it so seriously, and why the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended a 42-day quarantine (double the normal incubation window) for everyone aboard.

That said, this is not COVID. The WHO has been clear that the global public health risk is low. Hantavirus does not spread easily, and the 150 people being monitored represent a known, contained exposure group. But “low risk” is cold comfort if you were aboard that ship.

Why the Quarantine Rules Differ by Country

The WHO recommends quarantine, but cannot mandate it. Each country receiving passengers sets its own rules. Greece put one evacuee in a negative-pressure hospital chamber for 45 days. Spain used military hospital isolation beds. France placed its citizens in “strict isolation until further notice.” The United States (no longer a WHO member)  is offering Americans the choice to stay in a Nebraska quarantine facility or go home and be monitored by state health agencies.

Though the process may appear chaotic, it is how international maritime law actually tends to work. A ship is governed by its flag state, but passengers are governed by their home countries. The result is that the same outbreak can trigger a dozen different legal and public health responses all at once.

What This Means for Crew

The 38 Filipino seafarers quarantining in Rotterdam, the two Indian crew members in the Netherlands, and others still waiting to go home are in a legally unclear position. The Maritime Labour Convention (the international treaty that governs seafarers’ rights) requires shipowners to provide medical care and repatriation to sick or injured crew. However, a multi-week quarantine imposed by foreign authorities before repatriation is even possible is not a scenario most employment contracts anticipated.

For any U.S. seaman who contracted hantavirus aboard, the Jones Act and general maritime law provide tools: claims for unseaworthiness (was the vessel reasonably safe?), maintenance and cure (daily living expenses and medical care during recovery), and negligence. The critical question will be whether rodent infestation (or inadequate rodent control) was a known or knowable condition the operator failed to address (previously, the WHO has specifically directed that the ship be inspected for rodents before returning to service).

What This Means for Passengers

If you were a passenger, your rights depend heavily on the fine print of your ticket contract. Most cruise contracts limit the company’s liability, require disputes to go to arbitration in a specific city, and include force majeure clauses that attempt to insulate the line from acts of God and other unforeseeable events. Whether a hantavirus outbreak qualifies as unforeseeable — or whether it reflects a failure of vessel maintenance — is a question that lawyers will be arguing for years.

For the families of the three passengers who died: the path to any legal recovery is long, jurisdiction-specific, and uncertain. That does not mean there is no path. It means such passengers need counsel who understands maritime law, and sooner rather than later.

The sea has always been a place where the ordinary rules of life feel a little less certain. The Hondius situation is a reminder that complex and sometimes centuries-old maritime law is still being asked to handle things it was never designed for, and does not always have clean answers. But for the people involved, these questions are very real. 

We at the Herd Law Firm are proud to fight for seamen, maritime workers and passengers in all types of personal injury and death claims. As maritime personal injury attorneys (and sailors ourselves!) located in northwest Houston, we never waver in our commitment to help these maritime workers, passengers, and their families when they are injured or mistreated.

Sources

1.  Saunokonoko, Mark. “Hantavirus: what happens to cruise ship passengers now and will they quarantine?” The Guardian, May 10, 2026.

2.  World Health Organization (WHO). Hantavirus disease: fact sheets and situation reports. who.int.

3.  United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 1982. UN Treaty Series, vol. 1833.

4.  Maritime Labour Convention (MLC 2006). International Labour Organization. In force from 2013.

5.  Athens Convention Relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea, 1974 (and 2002 Protocol). International Maritime Organization.

6.  U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “Hantavirus.” cdc.gov/hantavirus.

7.  International Maritime Organization (IMO). “Flag State responsibilities.” imo.org.

8.  46 U.S.C. § 30104 (Jones Act — Seaman’s right of action for negligence).