Falkland Islands accused of ‘hostile act’ as cruise ship is turned away

THE Falkland Islands – over which Britain and Argentina fought a 1982 war – has been accused of a hostile act after it turned away a cruise ship carrying South Americans because a small number had stomach flu.

Brazil, Chile and Uruguay recently agreed to support their fellow Mercosur trade bloc partner, Argentina, by turning away ships sailing under the Falklands flag. Their citizens were among the 3,562 passengers and crew on board the Star Princess liner, which wanted to dock at island capital Port Stanley.

Falklands spokesman Darren Christie said it had to deny entry to the ship on Saturday because some passengers had norovirus, which the islands were ill-equipped to handle. The decision was made by the chief medical officer in consultation with a UK microbiologist.

“An outbreak in the Falkland Islands would put enormous pressure on our limited medical resources, and jeopardise other scheduled cruise visits,” he said.

Ship owner Princess Cruise called the decision “totally unwarranted” and unscientific, and said it ran against international health policy.

“No Princess ship has ever been denied entry into a port based on incidences of ill passengers and crew onboard,” said Julie Benson, its vice-president for public relations.

She said a total of 74 passengers and crew, about 2 per cent of those on board, had been reported ill. Of those, 20 people now have symptoms.

Passengers also said they were surprised by the decision.

“We were told that we had only 20 cases and [the captain] considered that the refusal by the Falklands Island health department to let us land was very unreasonable and unprecedented,” said English passenger John Sturgeon in Buenos Aires.

Argentine passenger Liliana Rodriguez said some of the passengers had been planning to pay respects to loved ones buried on the island. “There was a young guy who brought a shield for the tomb of his father there,” Ms Rodriguez said. “There were at least 300 Argentines.”

Argentina’s foreign ministry said it hoped the decision wasn’t “only the latest hostile act against tourists of various nationalities, including Argentine citizens who have the simple desire and hope of getting to see the Malvinas Islands [Argentina’s name for the South Atlantic archipelago]”.

It called the Falkland Islands government “illegitimate and self-proclaimed.”

The UN Special Committee on Decolonisation issued a resolution in 1965 urging London and Buenos Aires to negotiate the future of the Falklands, but Britain refuses to discuss sovereignty over the islands it first occupied in 1833 – before the Republic of Argentina was founded.

The ship had planned to dock in Port Stanley in the middle of its 14-day cruise from Valparaiso, Chile, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Falkland Islands’ Penguin News reported that the loss of the visit may have cost the economy over £100,000, including £46,944 in arrival tax.