Probe into illness on cruise ship

12 April 2012

Health experts are trying to establish whether dozens of people taken ill on board a cruise ship are suffering from the norovirus.

Both passengers and crew are showing suspected symptoms of the vomiting bug on board the Transocean Tours-operated Marco Polo, which is berthed in Invergordon, Easter Ross.

A 74-year-old man suffered a fatal heart attack on board the ship on Monday, but his death was unrelated to the bug, the ship's operator said.

NHS Highland said the man, from England, had serious underlying health problems. A post-mortem examination will be carried out to establish the exact cause of his death.

The BBC said the man was thought to be from Norwich.

Transocean Tours, of Bremen, said its medical team on board the ship was dealing with an unconfirmed virus that caused a form of gastroenteritis.

Those taken unwell on the ship were being treated by a team of GPs and local nurses, while two people had been taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness for treatment.

There are 769 passengers and 340 crew on board and those not showing symptoms were allowed to go ashore to sightsee on Monday.

The ship has not been detained or placed under quarantine but has remained in Invergordon to allow extra manpower to join the ship, Transocean Tours said.

There were conflicting reports over the number of passengers taken ill. The health board said that 150 people were unwell, while Transocean Tours said that 54 passengers and 21 crew were ill.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in