Cruise Ship With 4 Dead Passengers and at Least 2 Coronavirus Cases Hoping to Dock in Florida

Cruise line company Holland America Line confirmed Friday that four passengers died on its ship during a voyage, though the causes of death are unknown.

However, the deaths come amid two of the ship's passengers testing positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus strain. In a statement to Newsweek, Holland America Line did not state if the deceased individuals were among the positive tests or if any of the four had the virus.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with their families and we are doing everything we can to support them during this difficult time," the statement said.

What is known, the statement said, is that a number of passengers reported "influenza-like symptoms" on March 22 as the Zaandam made its way to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The trip to the coastal city is an extension of the cruise liner's planned voyage, which departed from Buenos Aires on March 7 and was scheduled to end in San Antonio, Chile on March 21. However, the ship was not allowed to dock at that time and was forced to proceed to Florida in hope of docking in Fort Lauderdale.

After the report of illness among some of the passengers, Holland America Line told Newsweek that the Zaandam enacted "immediate protective measures, including asking all guests to self-isolate in their staterooms and implementing all other appropriate precautions that have been developed in coordination with the CDC."

The statement added that "all guests and crew received face masks" on Thursday and "were provided with instructions on when and how to wear them." The two passengers were tested on that same day after Zaandam met with its sister ship, Rotterdam, and was given medical supplies and the COVID-19 tests.

In addition to Rotterdam supplying the Zaandam staff with medical supplies, healthy passengers on the Zaandam were allowed transfer to the sister ship.

"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. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)," the statement to Newsweek read. "Only those who have not been ill will be moved, and health screenings will be conducted before transferring."

"Any guests who are currently ill, or in isolation as a close contact, and all crew will remain on Zaandam," the statement continued.

An anonymous crew member aboard the Rotterdam recently spoke to Business Insider and explained that the crew feels that Holland America Line "did not care for the health of our crew."

"Our crews do not agree, and they did not give us any choice about it," the crew member told Business Insider. "We will have to serve guests possibly infected by COVID-19 without any equipment or instruction."

According to Holland America Line, 53 guests and 85 crew members aboard the Zaandam have reported "influenza-like symptoms." The ship has 1,243 and 586 crew on board, including four doctors and four nurses.

It is unknown when during the voyage the four passengers died, or what type of medical care they were given.

In a response to Newsweek, Holland America Line said that the Zaandam obtained provisions on March 20 and 21 while docked in Valparaiso, Chile and has "plenty of food and fuel for the voyage to the U.S."

The ship hopes to dock in Fort Lauderdale on March 30, and is working with local authorities to do so. The company added that no one has been off the ship since March 14 when the Zaandam docked in Punta Arenas, Chile.

Newsweek contacted the Port Everglades Department, which manages the dock in Fort Lauderdale, and asked if the Zaandam will be allowed to dock. No response was received by the time of publication.

The novel coronavirus originated in Wuhan, China, and has continued to spread across the world. According to a tracker from Johns Hopkins University, there are over 94,000 confirmed cases in the U.S. and at least 1,475 deaths. In Florida, there are at least 2,900 confirmed cases and 35 deaths.