A passenger uses binoculars as another wears a face mask onboard Holland America's cruise ship Zaandam as it entered the Panama bay on March 27, 2020 AFP/Ivan PISARENKOPANAMA CITY: Passengers on a virus-stricken cruise liner stranded off Panama in Central America were told Sunday the company was still searching for a port which will allow them to disembark, even as they pleaded for help.
Earlier, Fort Lauderdale mayor Dean Trantalis said allowing the Zaandam to dock was"completely unacceptable" as no special assurances had been given about the passengers onward travel arrangements. "We cannot add further risk to our community amid our own health crisis here with thousands of people already testing positive for the deadly and contagious COVID-19 virus," Trantalis said, adding that the National Guard and the Department of Homeland Security"must create a plan to protect the community."Passengers showing no signs of the virus were ferried a short distance to a sister ship, the Rotterdam, off Panama on Saturday.
Since a brief stop in Punta Arenas in Chilean Patagonia on Mar 14, it has been turned away from several ports after reporting that 42 people aboard were suffering from flu-like symptomsUS passenger Laura Gabaroni pleaded for help for those on board on Sunday, saying that the ports that had turned the Zaandam away would have the deaths of passengers on their conscience.
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