Reuters/Paris
A cruise ship carrying dozens of victims of swine flu among its 5,000 passengers and crew docked in France yesterday on its way from the Italian port city of Naples to Marseille, French authorities said.
Shares in US-Norwegian company Royal Caribbean, which owns the liner, fell as much as 7% in Oslo trading after news that 60 crew members had been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus, as the pandemic continues to spread.
Seventy more crew members showed signs of the disease, local authorities said in a statement yesterday. None of the 3,600 passengers were reported to be ill.
The people infected are being treated and will stay on board the Voyager of the Seas liner, which docked at Villefranche in southern France yesterday morning as part of its planned itinerary and will resume its journey later.
All other members of the 1,500-strong crew will also stay on board, although the passengers were allowed to disembark during the day.
There have been more than 1,000 confirmed cases of swine flu in France, and the World Health Organisation said earlier this month the virus was still spreading quickly and affecting older age groups who had been spared earlier in the outbreak.
On Thursday, French authorities said a 14-year-old girl infected with H1N1 had died, the first recorded death in France from the virus.
But they said the girl had suffered from a number of other very serious conditions and it was not clear whether her death had been caused by the flu virus.
The spread of the H1N1 virus has forced travel companies to change itineraries and has dramatically cut demand for trips to Mexico, where the disease is believed to have originated.
Royal Caribbean, the world’s second-largest cruise operator, has been hit by the route changes as well as lower demand.
When it released second-quarter earning results earlier this week, the company said its 2009 earnings per share were likely to be about a third lower than it forecast only a month ago, in part because of the growing impact of swine flu.
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