Brits 'held prisoner' on cruise ship bound for coronavirus-hit Italy

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Costa Pacifica. UK nationals on board the cruise ship have been told they must sail to coronavirus-stricken Italy after the Spanish and French authorities refused to let them disembark.
PA
Rebecca Speare-Cole20 March 2020

Brits are among passengers being "held prisoner" on board a cruise ship heading to coronavirus-hit Italy, according to a UK guest's family.

People travelling on the Costa Pacifica, run by Italian-firm Costa Cruises, have been told they must sail to the country after Spanish and French authorities refused to let them disembark.

It comes as the number of people in Italy to die after testing positive for Covid-19 hit 4,032. The country's death toll overtook China's on Thursday.

The Costa Pacifica departed Argentina on March 3 for the transatlantic cruise.

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Some passengers were due to leave the ship in Barcelona, Spain, but the port was closed due to travel restrictions.

Guests had been told they could get off at the next port, Marseille, but only French nationals were allowed to disembark.

The ship, which can hold up to 3,780 guests, is now making its way to Genoa, Italy.

Fraser Mullen, 36, from Redhill, Surrey, is deeply concerned about his elderly parents, Douglas and Elisabeth, who are on board.

He said: "We're really worried. My brother is beside himself.

"My parents are completely in the dark about what's going on and what's going to happen when they get to Italy.

"I know it's an incredibly difficult situation for everyone but I can't understand how the best plan is to sail a cruise ship full of healthy people to the centre of a global pandemic.

"All indications are it's a healthy ship. No-one has said anything to the contrary.

"They're being held prisoner on that ship."

Mr Mullen said he has been unable to contact anyone at Costa Cruises, while the Foreign and Commonwealth Office could not provide information about what will happen next.

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He added: "We've just got to hope that there's some means of getting my parents and everybody else home."

A spokesman for Costa Cruises said the firm is "working endlessly to find the best travel plan solutions to guarantee a safe journey back to the guests' original destination".

He added that all remaining guests will leave the ship in Genoa on Saturday and be transported to flights and transfers "through a sanitary cordon of isolation".

British passengers on board coronavirus-hit cruise ship Braemar flew back to the UK from Havana, Cuba, on Thursday.

The ship, operated by Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, had 667 Britons on board.

Three flights containing healthy passengers landed at Heathrow on Thursday.

A fourth flight, carrying those who had tested positive for Covid-19 or had flu-like symptoms, touched down at MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire.