Pullmantur Cruise Ship in Quarantine in Venezuela over Three Cases of New Flu

A cruise ship was put in quarantine Wednesday off the coast of the Venezuelan Caribbean island of Margarita after three members of its crew were found to have symptoms of the new type of influenza A(H1N1), Venezuelan authorities confirmed.

The Ocean Dream, operated by the Spanish company Pullmantur and carrying about 760 passengers, was touring the Caribbean. A further 11 people among its crew of about 400 were also suspected to have the disease, said the health minister of Venezuela's islands region, Jorge Alchaer.

Alchaer noted that ship occupants will remain in isolation while the sick receive treatment. Everyone else on board is to be examined by doctors, in accordance with the dictates of the World Health Organization (WHO).

“They will get all the support they require. We are ready to take care of them, even if there were to be more people affected,” Alchaer told reporters.

The ship which was on a nine-day cruise docked in Margarita earlier Wednesday, after the authorities of Grenada and Barbados refused to allow it to dock in their harbors.

Mr. Alchaer said it was set to remain in Margarita for 10 days, during which passengers and crew alike will have to remain on board.

Pullmantur stressed that all the people infected are members of the crew, and that none of the passengers appeared to have been infected with the new flu virus.