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The Federal Government has been urged to rescue more than 200 Australians stranded on an Italian-bound cruise ship that has just recorded its first case of coronavirus.
Key points:
- Passengers onboard the Costa Victoria have been told to stay in their rooms
- Among the Australian passengers is an 87-year-old woman
- DFAT is concerned the ship may dock in Italy, the country hardest hit by COVID-19
Passengers on the Costa Victoria have been ordered to stay in their rooms as the ship sails towards Venice, where it was due to dock this weekend.
"We're terrified, we're absolutely terrified. It's obviously very stressful, we just don't know what's going on," passenger Simone Jacques from Victoria said.
Mrs Jacques and her husband, Brett, joined the cruise in late February.
They said the captain had been either unwilling or unable to dock anywhere for the past fortnight due to the closure of European ports in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
On Monday night, news came through that a passenger had tested positive to COVID-19.
"We're OK at the moment, but there's a lot of elderly people on this cruise, most of them over 70," Mrs Jacques said.
Mr Jacques said there were no hand sanitisers in their rooms and passengers were desperate not to disembark in Italy, the country hardest hit by the virus.
"We're hearing yelling from outside, we're hearing people on the balcony, different languages arguing, so tensions are high and they will get higher," he said.
The couple's daughters are helplessly watching the crisis unfold back home.
"They're literally just trapped in a room on a boat with no communication and pretty much been told they're just going to Italy, which from what we know in Australia is one of the world's worst places [for coronavirus]," Elise Jacques said.
Fear for 87-year-old stuck on floating 'disaster story'
Marilyn Rose Veil, from St Kilda, said her sister and 87-year-old mother were on board the ship.
She said she had "a good cry" when she heard that a passenger had come down with coronavirus.
"My mum's husband passed away last year," Ms Veil said.
"She's been under a great deal of stress and my sister and my mum thought it would be a good idea to go on a cruise.
"It's just been a disaster story from day one."
DFAT concerned ship may dock in Venice
Elise Jacques said the Federal Government must do more to help the Australians stuck on the ship.
"Where do these Australians go, who's helping them? Is the embassy going to come in and look after them? Or are they just going to be completely stranded?" she said.
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The Department of Foreign Affairs said it was monitoring more than 30 cruise ships with more than 3,000 Australians onboard.
The department was particularly worried about the prospect of the Costa Victoria docking in Venice.
"We have raised our concerns in relation to the suitability of Venice as a port for Australians to disembark at this point in time, given the serious issues associated with the impact of coronavirus in that part of Italy," a spokesperson said.
"We are therefore working with Italian authorities to identify an alternative port for passengers to disembark safely and to return to Australia."
Costa Cruises has been contacted for comment.
Topics: covid-19, diseases-and-disorders, health, infectious-diseases-other, respiratory-diseases, emergency-incidents, emergency-planning, italy, melbourne-3000, vic, australia
First posted