Coronavirus: Chile strands 73 Aussie doctors aboard cruise ship

More than 100 Australians are stranded off the coast of Chile after the country closed its ports to cruise liners in response to the ­coronavirus ­pandemic.

Hurtigruten cruise ship Roald Amundsen. Picture: Oscar Farrera/Hurtigruten

More than 100 Australians, including 73 doctors as well as dentists and nurses taking part in a health convention on a cruise ship, are stranded off the coast of Chile after the country closed its ports to cruise liners in response to the ­coronavirus ­pandemic.

The former director of Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital emergency department and former Senior Australian of the Year, Gordian Fulde, is among those on the vessel, which was caught out after Chile Health Minister Jaime Manalich un­expectedly banned cruise ships from docking at the weekend.

The maritime lockdown, which will remain in place until September, came after an 83-year-old British passenger on board another cruise ship tested positive for coronavirus after disembarking at a separate Chilean port more than 2300km north of Punta Arenas.

The Australian healthcare workers are on board the Roald Amundsen, owned by Norwegian cruise company Hurtigruten, for a 16-day cruise to Antarctica, the Falkland Islands and the Chilean Fjords as part of a medical and dental conference organised by Unconventional Conventions.

Speakers at the event include Dr Fulde and Brisbane respiratory specialist Glenn Rice-McDonald, according to a conference guide.

The ship, which caters for up to 500 passengers, departed Punta Arenas on February 29 for the cruising conference and was returning to the port on Tuesday, when it was blocked from docking, along with several other vessels. Unconventional Conventions managing director Mark Cunich said the conference group included 107 Australians, 10 New Zealanders, two Britons and one Dane. “That includes 73 doctors, 20 dentists, five nurses, plus other professionals and accompanying persons,” he said.

“They boarded the ship in Punta Arenas and no additional passengers have boarded since. They are currently sitting near the port in Punta Arenas unable to ­disembark there.”

Mr Cunich said he was in contact with passengers on board who were “frustrated” they could not disembark.

“All the health professionals are keen to get back (to Australia), do their quarantine time and get back to work,” he said.

Although it’s not clear how long they would have to stay on board, Mr Cunich said spirits were generally high.

Hurtigruten Asia Pacific managing director Damian Perry said the company was working with the Chilean government, local authorities, embassies, airports and airlines to arrange disembark­ation and repatriation of passengers to their home countries as soon as possible.

“Our passengers and crew are our top priority and all are well. Our taskforce’s focus is to get all passengers home as quickly and safely as possible and we are regularly updating our passengers with our plans to get them home,” Mr Perry said.

He said passengers had remained in high spirits and there were no known cases of corona­virus on the ship, with all passengers and crew appearing healthy and asymptomatic for the virus.

US lawyer Bill Portanova, who is on board with his wife, said the liner’s captain had been trying to negotiate to land somewhere for days.

“We’re offshore and, apparently, the story we got is that they worked something out where we would be taken to the port, health-screened, removed from the ship with masks and gloves directly into buses and straight to the airport,” he told the Sacramento Bee.

“But some locals got wind of the plan, there was some kind of a protest and the deal fell through.”