First passengers fly home from hantavirus-hit cruise ship

Spanish passengers are the first to leave the MV Hondius, after an outbreak saw three people die and several infected.

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Fourteen Spanish nationals were on the chartered flight from Tenerife. They now face mandatory quarantine at a military hospital in the capital.

Before boarding the plane in Tenerife, staff involved in the operation pulled white hazmat suits over the evacuees' clothes and hosed them down on the airport tarmac.

Passengers are being evacuated by nationality, with French nationals reportedly the second group to leave the island.

Health Minister Mónica García said the operation was "proceeding normally" and that all passengers on board the MS Hondius were asymptomatic.