More cruise ship hell as 1,700 passengers stranded after another virus…

Officials have issued a major update as more than 1,700 passengers and crew stay stranded on a British cruise ship where a 92-year-old man died during a gastroenteritis outbreak.

French officers have stopped passengers leaving the Ambition after dozens onboard fell in poor health with the abdomen bug during the voyage from Belfast and Liverpool to France and Spain.

The scare comes just days after a lethal hantavirus outbreak on board another cruise ship left three passengers lifeless and sparked an worldwide health alert. But French authorities have burdened there may be “no reason” to hyperlink the 2 incidents.

“There is no reason to establish a link between this outbreak aboard a cruise ship from Belfast and Liverpool and the hantavirus cases detected aboard the MV Hondius,” a joint assertion by Etienne Guyot, the prefect of Nouvelle-Aquitaine area and Gironde division, and the regional health company said.

The Ambition was midway through a two week cruise from Belfast and Liverpool that was due to take in ports in northern Spain and along France’s Atlantic coast.

It reached Bordeaux on Tuesday night, according to the operator, Ambassador Cruise Line.

The 92-year-old male passenger died on Sunday but had not reported symptoms constant with the sickness, and his trigger of death is yet to be established by a coroner.

The operator said 48 passengers and one crew member had been displaying gastrointestinal symptoms as of late Wednesday morning. According to Ambassador’s data, instances had risen after passengers boarded in Liverpool on May 9.

Guyot suspended disembarkation from the Ambition and restricted the vessel’s interactions with the port of Bordeaux. He acted on the advice of the regional health company, the Agence Regionale de Sante Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the joint assertion said.

Up to 50 people aboard the Ambition developed symptoms linked to an acute digestive infection, with sufferers made to isolate in their cabins as medical groups boarded the ship in Bordeaux.

Those contaminated with gastroenteritis sometimes expertise sudden, intense diarrhea, vomiting, and abdomen cramps. Other symptoms embody nausea, fever, fatigue, and muscle aches.

Samples taken from sufferers on the ship are now being analysed at a Bordeaux hospital.

The hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius last month sparked a major response by a number of nations, with passengers hospitalised in Britain, France, Spain and the US.

Three passengers died and there have been 9 confirmed instances, with another two suspected.