The two Irish passengers who were on board the cruise ship that was hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak have landed in Baldonnel, according to flight tracker data.
The Air Corps aircraft arrived back in Ireland just after 9pm, according to Flightradar24.
They were accompanied on board the plane by HSE medics.
The Department of Health said the passengers will now isolate for a period of time in a HSE facility, in line with European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and World Health Organization guidance.
In a statement earlier, the department said both passengers are in good health and were following isolation protocols while on board the MV Hondius.
The department said that for purposes of patient confidentiality, no further information would be provided on their care.
Watch: Irish passengers disembark cruise ship and leave Tenerife
Planes from Spain, France, Canada, UK and the Netherlands also departed Tenerife earlier today.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said one of five French people flown back to France from the cruise ship is showing symptoms of the illness
In a post on X, he said: "These five passengers have immediately been placed in strict isolation until further notice."
The first group to disembark the ship were all Spanish nationals.
The evacuation began after 7.30am Sunday morning.
The passengers were transported directly from the port in Tenerife in military buses to the airport in the southern part of the island where they were taken by a Spanish government plane to Madrid.
They were then transported to hospital and quarantined at a military hospital, officials said.
Health officials boarded the boat before the departures took place to conduct a final health screening check and to begin disembarking passengers, Spain's health ministry said.
Watch: Irish passengers evacuated from virus-hit cruise ship leave Baldonnel
Spanish Health Minister Mónica Garcia said the evacuation of most of the ship's nearly 150 passengers and crew would continue until a final repatriation flight to Australia tomorrow.
Canary Islands authorities have warned the operation must be completed by tomorrow, when adverse weather conditions will force the ship to leave.
Thirty crew members will remain on board and sail to the Netherlands where the ship will be disinfected.
"If everything continues according to plan ... at 19:00 the ship will set sail for the Netherlands" tomorrow, the Spanish health minister said.
Watch: Irish passengers en route to Ireland on Government jet
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The cruise ship hit by the outbreak arrived early this morning near the Port of Granadilla in Tenerife where it anchored for the evacuation of the passengers and some of the crew.
All passengers on the MV Hondius are considered high-risk contacts as a precautionary measure, Europe's public health agency said yesterday as part of its rapid scientific advice.
The ship left for Spain on Wednesday from the coast of Cape Verde after the World Health Organization and European Union asked the country to manage the evacuation of passengers after the hantavirus outbreak was detected.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived yesterday evening in Tenerife, alongside Spain's interior and health ministers and its minister for territorial policy, to coordinate the arrival of the ship.
The disembarkment of the first group of MV Hondius passengers has started. @WHO experts on the ground are working with the Spanish Health Ministry on the epidemiological assessment of the passengers and coordinating charter flights with the Interior Ministry. This collaboration… pic.twitter.com/Is0qFRer5k
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) May 10, 2026
Three passengers from the MV Hondius - a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman - have died, while others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents.
But it can in rare cases be transmitted person-to-person.
The WHO has said the risk to the wider global population is low, but the risk to passengers and crew on the ship is moderate.
