Coronavirus: Rescue mission underway on cruise ship that can’t dock

A cruise ship with four dead and 138 sick is unable to dock. But a rescue mission is underway.

Passengers are seen onboard Holland America's cruise ship Zaandam as it entered the Panama City bay to be assisted by the Rotterdam cruise ship with supplies, personnel and COVID-19 testing devices, eight milles off the coast of Panama City, on March 27, 2020. - Four passengers have died aboard a cruise ship carrying scores of people with flu-like symptoms that has been stranded off the Pacific coast of South America for several days, the liner company said Friday. The Zaandam, with 1,800 passengers on board, is currently in Panama's territorial waters, having been prevented from docking in several countries due to coronavirus fears. (Photo by Luis Acosta / AFP)

A cruise ship with four dead and 138 sick is unable to dock, forcing the company to launch a dramatic rescue mission.

Luxury holiday company Holland America Line’s MS Zaandam cruise ship has two confirmed cases of coronavirus and four dead bodies onboard, a leaked audio recording obtained by Business Insider revealed.

The company sent out a sister ship, the MS Rotterdam, to rescue healthy passengers.

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Holland America's cruise ship Zaandam entered the Panama City bay to be assisted by the Rotterdam cruise ship with supplies, personnel and COVID-19 testing devices. Picture: Luis Acosta/AFP

“I am sad to share that four older Zaandam guests have passed away,” the captain of the Rotterdam said in the recording of a ship-wide announcement.

“Three between yesterday and last night, and one a few days ago.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with their families, and the Zaandam team is doing everything they can to support them during this difficult time.”

Passengers on-board Holland America's cruise ship Zaandam could be facing a similar situation to the Diamond Princess cruise ship. Picture: Luis Acosta/AFP.

More crew members are sick than passengers – 53 people displaying flu-like symptoms are paying passengers and 85 are crew members.

They have all reported flu-like symptoms, Holland America said in a statement.

There are 1,243 guests and 586 crew members on board the illness-ravaged ship, which is now off the coast of Panama.

On Thursday, a "number of patients with respiratory symptoms" tested for coronavirus, Holland America said, and two people were found to be positive.

Since then, four older people have died.

It has not yet been confirmed that they died of coronavirus.

Details about the passengers, including what country they are from, are also unclear, only that they are “older”.

The cruise ship departed Buenos Aires on March 7 and was scheduled to end its voyage in Chile on March 21.

Passengers on-board Holland America's cruise ship Zaandam. Picture: Luis Acosta/AFP

The Rotterdam was sent to the Zaandam on Thursday with COVID-19 testing kits and other medical supplies.

The Rotterdam has no guests on board, but crew members on the ship have said it is staffed with 611 people.

According to a memo leaked by a Rotterdam crew member, the ship is now also tasked with rescuing healthy Zaandam guests.

The memo was titled “Rotterdam Humanitarian Mission FAQ.” The rescue-response memo began with the question “Why do we need to do this?”

“This is a humanitarian action to help a sister ship which has an outbreak of respiratory illness mainly affecting your teammates, particularly food preparation and service staff,” the memo said. “There is no other place for us to take the guests and no other means to provide assistance to the Zaandam and our fellow team members on board.”

A Holland America representative confirmed the details in the memo.

“Today we announced a plan to transfer groups of healthy Zaandam guests to Rotterdam, with strict protocols for this process developed in conjunction with the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention,” the representative said.

“Only those who have not been ill will be moved, and health screenings will be conducted before transferring. Priority for the first guests to transfer will be given to those on Zaandam with inside staterooms and who are over 70.”

The leaked memo said that ports and airports in South America and Central America had been closed off to the Zaandam and that “colleagues, fleet family members, and guests” on board “are in dire need.”