Spain says over 90 people to be evacuated from hantavirus ship by end of Sunday

More than 90 of nearly 150 people on a cruise ship struck by a deadly hantavirus outbreak will have been evacuated from the Canary Islands by the end of Sunday, Spanish authorities said.

Dozens of people have already been removed from the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius and are returning to their countries after the stricken vessel arrived at the island of Tenerife early on Sunday.

With British, Turkish, Irish and US citizens scheduled to leave, "this will give a total of more than 90 passengers including passengers and crew", Spain's secretary of state for health Javier Padilla said in a video shared on social media.

The complex operation at the small industrial port of Granadilla is due to be suspended at nightfall and resume on Monday afternoon.

The president of the port authority at Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Pedro Suarez, told regional television that no evacuations would take place on Monday morning to refuel the ship, "a manoeuvre that is very common in ports".

Once the final evacuations are complete, around 30 crew will remain on board to take the MV Hondius to the Netherlands.