AGAINST WHAT THEY SAYED IN THE BEGINNING, AUTHORITIES DECIDED TO UNLOCK THE PASSENGERS AND CREW OF THE MARELLA EXPLORER 2 CRUISE NIGHT WITH SYMPTOMS OF CORONAVIRUS COVID-19
The disembarkation of the passengers in the facilities of the IX Naval Zone of Yucalpetén
PROGRESO YUACTAN.– Contrary to what the authorities initially offered, the passengers of the Marella Explorer 2 cruise ship, which arrived in Progreso from Barbados on Monday, were landed in this city and later sent by road to the Merida airport and boarded them on a flight to their countries.
Maintaining secrecy in this regard, the passengers were arrived at night, so that the inhabitants would not notice the transfer since many did not agree that in Progreso the ship that was rejected in other international ports be accepted, precisely because it had to passengers sick with Coronavirus Covid-19.
The passengers were not disembarked from the sightseeing cruise on Monday, but on Tuesday.
On Monday only a single 71-year-old passenger in critical condition (allegedly to be admitted to a hospital in Mérida) was lowered and yesterday, Tuesday, a total of 48 people (46 passengers and 2 crew) were lowered to be sent by plane to the United Kingdom, according to This day confirmed the Secretariat of the Navy-Navy of Mexico (Semar), through a statement.
As we reported on Monday, before any other means, port workers alerted the arrival of the tourist cruise with sick passengers and crew, from the port of Bridgetown, Barbados.
Dockworkers denounced that the authorities were trying to sneak passengers off, which finally occurred on the grounds that it was humanitarian support requested by the British Embassy in Mexico and the Federal Government.
Even API authorities erased from their records the arrival of the vessel at the port of Progreso, but shortly after the ship’s agent and consignee, Jorge Baqueiro, confirmed the arrival of the tourist ship, for which he even requested service from tugs.
This further increased the criticism of the inhabitants of Progreso for fear of more contagions in the midst of the pandemic, so that finally the authorities determined to back off and not authorize the docking of the cruise ship, which was anchored on Monday at about 10 kilometers off the Yucatan coast. That same Monday, only one passenger disembarked.
However, it was yesterday Tuesday, at 10 o’clock at night, that the Secretary of the Navy, onboard two vessels equipped with plastic protections around (owned by the same cruise ship) and with duly protected personnel, disembarked the 48 passengers and crew from the Marella Explorer 2 cruise ship, owned by the German shipping company Tui Cruises.
The foreigners, mostly British, were loaded onto tourist buses and transferred on the Mérida-Progreso highway to the airport, where they boarded a flight to their country. Under this argument, the authorities indicate that the foreigners “did not step on Progreso.”
According to Semar, this support was made based on the General Protocol of Attention to Major Vessels that arrive from abroad to Mexican ports. They were received by personnel from International Health, the National Institute of Migration, and the Port Authority, and then took them to the Merida airport.
Source: progresohoy.com, laverdadnoticias.com, puntomedio.mx
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