Ambulance boat transporting infected passenger returns to shore from virus-stricken MV Hondius

Emergency crews on Wednesday evacuated three people from a cruise ship stricken with a deadly outbreak of hantavirus, the UN's health agency said.Two crew members and one other person suspected infectionwere being taken off the MV Hondius, anchored off Cape Verde, the WHO said.

They will be taken to the Netherlands for treatment, it added. The vessel has been at the centre of an international health scare since Saturday, when the UN's health agency was informed that three passengers had died and the suspected cause was hantavirus. The rare disease is usually spread from infected rodents, typically through urine, droppings and saliva.