Coronavirus-stricken Antarctica cruise ship evacuation to begin on Friday
Follow UsStory highlights
More than half of the 217 people aboard the Australian liner Greg Mortimer had tested positive for coronavirus. It has been anchored off the coast of Uruguay's capital Montevideo for almost two weeks.
The coronavirus-stricken Antarctica cruise ship which was to dock in Montevideo and the 112 Australian and New Zealander passengers subsequently be flown home is being evacuated under strict sanitary measures.
More than half of the 217 people aboard the Australian liner Greg Mortimer had tested positive for coronavirus. It has been anchored off the coast of Uruguay's capital Montevideo for almost two weeks.
The operation will begin on Friday evening with the flight taking off in the early hours of Saturday. The tourists will be taken on buses with a police escort to Montevideo's international airport where they will board a medically equipped Airbus A350 that will fly them to Melbourne, Australia.
Press will be allowed to cover the operation, but at a distance of 300 meters.
Both those that have tested positive and others to have tested negative will have to stay in quarantine for two weeks upon arrival in Melbourne.
Even after the evacuation, more than 80 crew members and around 20 Europeans and Americans will remain on board the Greg Mortimer.
According to the ship's owners Aurore Expeditions, 128 people aboard the liner have tested positive, among them crew and passengers.