A Humanitarian Mission Ends Well In Uruguay

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne was all praise last Saturday for the Uruguayan government as over 100 Australians and New Zealanders left Uruguay on a chartered flight after being stranded for two weeks aboard the virus-infected cruise ship Greg Mortimer at Rio de Plata 20 kilometers from Uruguay’s coast in Montevideo.

The ship had been blocked from docking after 128 of 217 people aboard were found positive for coronavirus. The Uruguayan and Australian governments quickly agreed on a ”sanitary corridor” from the port to the international airport, where the ship passengers boarded a flight for Melbourne, Australia, ending their nightmare of an enforced stay aboard the detained ship.

Minister Payne expressed her special thanks to Uruguay’s Foreign Minister Ernesto Talvi, along with the health, emergency, and other workers involved, for the special arrangements that enabled the 217 people aboard the cruise ship – both those who had tested negative and those confirmed with the virus – to fly home.