Cruise ship with sick passenger on board not cleared to enter Malta’s territorial waters

A cruise ship carrying a sick passenger exhibiting coronavirus symptoms has not been cleared to enter Malta’s territorial waters, MaltaToday is informed.

The Bahamas-flagged Marco Polo, with 1,000 passengers on board, was this afternoon reported to be sailing towards Malta.

Cypriot media reported that the ship had been given the options of anchoring off Cyprus, but that its passenger were not permitted to disembark.

This led its captain to decide to instead continue on the cruise liner’s destination, Malta.

Photo: MarineTraffic.com

Valletta Cruise Port CEO Stephen Xuereb, however, told this newspaper that the vessel has not been cleared to enter Maltese territorial waters.

He said that Malta was on the ship’s scheduled route, but, given the circumstances surrounding Covid-19 and the sick passenger on board, it has now not been allowed to enter the island’s territorial waters.

Had the ship enter Malta’s port, passengers would still not have been able to disembark due to the mandatory quarantine rules which are currently in force for all visitors to the country.

Transport Minister Ian Borg confirmed on Facebook that the ship would not be allowed into Malta.

Ship tracking website MarineTraffic shows the vessel currently being in the eastern Mediterranean, between Cyprus and Cete, and heading in Malta’s direction.

Xuereb, however, said that the ships location on the website was likely not accurate, since its on-board transponder might not update immediately.