LAST UPDATE | 8 May

THE DEPARTMENT OF Foreign Affairs is engaging with the HSE to see what measures will need to be taken when the Irish passengers aboard the MV Hondius come home.

Two Irish people on board the virus-hit cruise ship are “safe and well”, the minister for foreign affairs has said.

Three people in total have died in connection with an outbreak of hantavirus on the MV Hondius.

The outbreak has been connected to a birdwatching expedition in Argentina, which two of the passengers went on before boarding the ship.

Minister Helen McEntee said her team has been “engaging directly” with Irish passengers, as well as the Health Service Executive (HSE) to see what measures “would need to be taken when they do get home”.

She added: “But obviously the priority is to make sure that they can get home as quickly as possible, and we’re working with them and engaging with them.”

It is a “very difficult situation” for the families of those who have died, McEntee said “and for all of those on board”.

A third British national has been diagnosed with suspected hantavirus today.

Two other British nationals remain in hospital in the Netherlands and South Africa following the outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship.

Three people travelling on the vessel have died after contracting the rare virus, prompting a major international public health response.

Two Irish passengers remain aboard the vessel. On Thursday, Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said the Irish government is working with the European Centre for Disease Control on plans for those citizens, ahead of the ship’s expected arrival in Tenerife in the coming days.

With reporting by PA