Coronavirus: Medevac flight for Australians stranded in Uruguay

More than 90 Australians from a coronavirus-infected ship stranded in Uruguay will be flown to Melbourne on a chartered Airbus fitted with medical equipment.

A 75-year-old Australian passenger from the MV Greg Mortimer is loaded onto an ambulance at Montevideo, Uruguay. Picture: AFP

More than 90 Australians from a coronavirus-infected ship stranded in Uruguay will be flown to Melbourne on Thursday or Friday on a chartered Airbus fitted with medical equipment, according to the Arctic tour operator that owns the ship.

Aurora Expeditions confirmed on Tuesday that the virus had infected 128 of the 217 passengers and crew on-board the MV Greg Mortimer, which was launched in 2019 for adventures to some of the most remote places on earth.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been in talks to get the Australians home. It is understood there were 93 Australian citizens and about three permanent Australian residents on the expedition.

“With DFAT’s assistance we have been able to secure a company that will take all the Australian passengers back to Australia,” Aurora Expeditions said.

“We have also asked DFAT to accept the NZ passengers into Australia and allow the NZ passengers to complete their quarantine in Australia before returning home. We expect the flight will leave within two to three days and are doing everything possible to expedite disembarkation. The plane going to Australia is set up with medical facilities for this type of situation and will be managed in alignment with current COVID-19 protocol to ensure the health and safety of all on-board.

“In regard to where the plane will land in Australia, Border Force has requested the plane fly to Melbourne and for passengers to undergo their mandatory 14-day quarantine in a facility in ­Melbourne.”

The MV Greg Mortimer is also carrying Europeans and Americans but those with coronavirus are not allowed to board a flight until they return a negative test result, Aurora Expeditions said. That is not the case for the Australians, who are expected to board the same plane whether they are COVID-19 positive or not.

The MV Greg Mortimer off the port of Montevideo. Picture: AFP

“The plane we have chartered to Australia is an Airbus A340 refitted to act as a medical plane. The operator is used to dealing with medical situations and although we are still in the planning stage, it is likely we will separate the positive and negative passengers on the flight home into different cabin areas,” Aurora said.

DFAT is currently in contact with six cruise ships with about 260 Australian passengers on board. This is down from more than 50 affected cruise ships with more than 6000 Australians.