Coronavirus Australia: Military mission to clear Artania cruise ship
In a military-style operation, hundreds of European cruise passengers were taken off a ship stranded off the coast of Australia and flown home.
A military-style operation has cleared hundreds of passengers from a cruise ship off the coast of Western Australia.
The Artania cruise ship docked in Fremantle on Friday after spending days stranded at sea following a ban sparked by a spike of coronavirus cases on-board.
RELATED: Follow the latest coronavirus updates
RELATED: Hunt is on for 19 Ruby Princess passengers
Forty-one passengers and crew members have contracted coronavirus on the German ship. They are understood to have been taken to a private hospital facility on Joondalup Health Campus in Perth.
On Sunday, Australian Border Force personnel oversaw the remaining 800 European passengers disembark the ship.
The passengers were mostly German nationals as well as some people from Switzerland and France, an Australia Border Force official said. There were no Australians on-board.
They were taken directly to Perth airport where they were to board four flights to Frankfurt, Germany, after undergoing health checks.
“We are flying them back home. These flights will be operated via Phuket in Thailand,” a spokeswoman for Germany’s Condor Airlines told AFP.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the group from the Artania would be “flying home courtesy of the German government”, while any unwell passengers would receive medical treatment in Australia before being repatriated.
“It is important that Australia does the right thing about those who have fallen into our care,” he said.
About 500 crew members were set to remain on the Artania, which will sail home at the earliest opportunity, AFP reported.
Cruise ships have been responsible for nearly 500 cases of coronavirus and at least five deaths in Australia.
Meanwhile, 98 New Zealanders from the Vasco da Gama cruise ship were sent home on a charter flight from Perth early on Sunday.
The remaining passengers – almost 800 Australians and a handful of other nationalities – are scheduled to disembark today, the Australian Border Force official said.
They will be split between Perth hotels and Rottnest Island to complete their quarantine.
Incredible video of wild Jetstar job
An incredible video shows the complex 36-hour process of changing an aircraft engine in just one minute – but it is the final testing stage that is the most exciting.
Eerie post before Aussie found dead in Bali
An Australian woman took to social media just hours before she was found dead in a Bali hotel bathtub.
1000 tourists ‘violently’ ill visiting island
Close to 1000 tourists have fallen ill with a “horror” illness after visiting this idyllic island on what was supposed to be a dream holiday.