PROGRESO, YUCATAN (March 31, 2020).- A British senior citizen, passenger of the Marella Explorer 2 cruise ship who showed flu symptoms was transferred from the offshore cruiser to a Mérida, Yucatan hospital on Monday March 30th.
The Marella Explorer 2 approached Progreso’s shore without docking, appeasing authorities who did not want the stranded ship risking the local population. Four crew members reportedly tested positive for coronavirus when it was touring the Caribbean.
The ship made its way to Yucatan at the request of Mexico and the British Embassy in Mexico for humanitarian reasons. While it was originally to dock at the port, a compromise was reached when the ship was kept 10 kilometers offshore, where the critically ill patient (who is 71 years old), was transferred by Navy boat. It was not known if the passenger had been tested for COVID-19 or not yet.
No other passenger was allowed off the ship, state authorities said.
Before going to the port of Progreso, the ship was stranded in Bridgetown, Barbados, where most of the passengers disembarked, and returned to the UK by air.
The Yucatan TimesNewsroom