Probe into illness on cruise ship
Updated on 07 July 2009
Four people have been treated in hospital after falling ill on a cruise ship at the centre of a vomiting bug scare, health officials said.
Hundreds of passengers and crew on the Marco Polo, which is berthed in Invergordon, Easter Ross, have shown symptoms of the norovirus.
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 Transocean Tours said.
NHS Highland said the man, named as Roy Sillett, a retired man from Norwich, had serious underlying health problems and a post-mortem examination would be carried out to establish the exact cause of his death.
About 380 people on board the ship are showing symptoms of the illness, NHS Highland said. Four have received hospital treatment but have all returned to the boat.
Germany-based Transocean Tours 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 were 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 sight-see 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.
Reports suggested passengers on the Marco Polo's previous trip, who disembarked on Saturday, were also struck with a sickness bug. Rita Jones, from Walsall in the West Midlands, told BBC Scotland that half way through the cruise people began to get sickness and diarrhoea.
Cromarty Firth SNP councillor Maxine Smith questioned why passengers were allowed to go ashore. She said: "They have been allowed to go into local cafes and shops when apparently this virus is spread by touch. This is really concerning. They say it's an ordinary flu virus but nobody really wants any kind of virus to be spread in their community."
These news feeds are provided by an independent third party and Channel 4 is not responsible or liable to you for the same.
