| Corkman happy to end cruise on
suspect ship An Irishman on a cruise ship at the centre of a
suspected outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease has spoken of his relief
that the trip is over.
Pat Meade from Cobh in Co. Cork said he would be happy to get home after
news of the outbreak on board the Black Watch was confirmed in Stockholm
last week.
“We have been told that the liner is to be fumigated,” he
said.
“Hygiene has been meticulous. Those people being sick put a different
perspective on things.
“If anyone coughs or sneezes, everyone seems to be looking around
and checking themselves.”
Pat is one of 40 Irish holidaymakers on the liner which has 770 passengers
and over 300 staff.
He joined the cruise at Dover for a 17-day trip to the Baltic almost two
weeks ago. Before arriving in Sweden the ship had travelled to Estonia
and Finland.
It had also been scheduled to go to Denmark and Norway but the cruise
was cut short after the suspected outbreak.
Seven elderly Britons in their 70s and 80s were admitted to hospital in
Stockholm on Friday after they showed pneumonia-like symptoms.
They are in a stable condition but are expected to be in hospital for
a few days.
Water samples have been taken from the ship to find the source of the
illness.
A spokeswoman for the ship’s owners Fred Olsen Cruise Lines said
the health and safety of its passengers and crew was its highest priority.
Last year another Fred Olsen Cruise Lines ship was hit twice within weeks
by a winter virus.
Symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease are similar to a flu-like illness
with muscle aches, tiredness, dry cough and fever leading on to pneumonia. |
