Fourteen Spanish nationals have been taken off the Hondius in the first group to disembark from the cruise ship hit by an outbreak of the hantavirus, the Spanish Health Ministry reported on Sunday.
The 14 - one crew member and 13 passengers - were taken ashore by boat in small groups to Granadilla in the south of the Canaries island of Tenerife. Images of the boats' occupants showed them wearing protective clothing and masks.
Once on land, they boarded military buses and were taken to Tenerife South Airport some 15 minutes away, from where they were to fly to Madrid accompanied by World Health Organization (WHO) specialists.
They were then to be quarantined in a military hospital in the Spanish capital.
Disembarkation began only after a medical team had checked all aboard the Hondius for symptoms and found none.
The Netherlands is then to arrange the repatriation of its own nationals by air as well as those from Germany, Belgium and Greece.
The Hondius entered the port of Granadilla in the south of Tenerife early on Sunday morning. García said that none of the passengers or crew were showing symptoms, according to her most recent information.
The cruise ship had between 140 and 150 passengers and crew from 23 countries onboard.
There have been six confirmed and two suspected cases of the hantavirus, according to the WHO. Three of the eight have died - an elderly Dutch couple and a German woman.
The WHO suspects the infection chain began with the Dutch couple, who became infected with the virus before boarding the Hondius in Argentina.
