(UTV|Coronavirus) – A cruise ship that was stranded at sea, because ports were worried about passengers bringing coronavirus, has been allowed to dock in Cambodia.
The odyssey of the MS Westerdam saw it turned away by five places in Asia.
Another cruise ship in quarantine in Japan has more than 200 infections – but the Westerdam, with more than 2,000 crew and passengers, has none.
Only on Tuesday, the cruise liner attempted to dock in Bangkok but was denied permission.
A Thai Navy ship escorted her out of the Gulf of Thailand, from where she set course for Cambodia.
On Thursday morning, the ship finally arrived at an anchoring point in the port city of Sihanoukville.
“This morning, just seeing land was such a breathtaking moment,” passenger Angela Jones from the US told Reuters. “I thought: is this real?”
The Westerdam, run by the US-based Holland America Line, departed Hong Kong on 1 February with 1,455 passengers and 802 crew on board.
The cruise had been scheduled to run for two weeks – and with those 14 days running out, there were worries about fuel and food supplies.
As well as Thailand, it was also turned away by Taiwan, Guam, and Japan.
“We’ve had so many near moments – we thought we were going home only to be turned away,” Ms Jones said.
The ship’s captain Vincent Smit said the ship would anchor outside Sihanoukville to allow authorities to conduct health checks on board. (BBC)
