A large group of Australian doctors has been trapped onboard a Hurtigruten cruise ship off the coast of Chile after the country tightened travel restrictions amid the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The doctors were attending a conference on MS Roald Amundsen which is one of many ships stranded off Port Punta Arenas. In response to the virus, the Chilean Government closed ports to cruise ships until September 30, which prevented MS Roald Amundsen from disembarking.
The vessel was due to dock at Punta Arenas on Tuesday, March 17, after a 16-day Antarctica Expedition Cruise. The cruise company announced it was working closely with the Chilean Government and embassies in order to get the passengers home safely in a timely manner.
Damian Perry, managing director Asia Pacific of Hurtigruten said their passengers and crew were their top priority and all were well. The taskforce's focus was to get all travellers home as quickly and safely as possible and they were regularly updating passengers onboard with the plans to get them home.
There have been no Coronavirus cases on the ship and all passengers and crew members were in good health, Hurtigruten said.
For other Roald Amundsen accidents and incidents see at the ship's CruiseMinus page.
For Coronavirus updates on cruise ship quarantines (infected passengers and crew) and top-pandemic countries (COVID-19 cases and deaths, daily updated statistics) see at CruiseMapper's Norovirus page.