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France locks down 1,700 on cruise ship after 90-year-old dies
Food poisoning had not been excluded, and health officials say there is no connection with the hantavirus outbreak French authorities on Wednesday confined more than 1,700 passengers and crew on a British cruise ship docked in Bordeaux after an elderly passenger died, said officials, who played down any links to the hantavirus scare. Dozens also suffered from upset stomachs aboard the Ambition – most of whose 1,233 passengers are from Britain or Ireland – which arrived in the western port of Bordeaux on Tuesday, with 514 Indian crew members also on board. But health officials said there was no connection with the hantavirus outbreak, suspected of killing three passengers on the Dutch MV Hondius cruise ship that set sail from Argentina. One 90-year-old passenger on the Ambition, run by the Ambassador Cruise Line company, had died and about 50 people have shown symptoms of stomach issues, the officials said. Initial tests ruled out an outbreak of norovirus, a highly contagious form of gastroenteritis which causes vomiting and diarrhoea, but secondary tests were still underway, they added. Passengers on board the Ambition showed peak symptoms on Monday when the ship was docked in Brest, the officials said.
