Greek health authorities said on Thursday that at least 120 people have now been recorded as having contracted coronavirus on the Eleftherios Venizelos cruise ship. The shocking numbers come after the vessel recorded an initial figure of 20. The Greek ship, which is part of the ANEK Lines fleet, has a crew of 34 people.
It is believed there are not any Britons on board the ship.
The ship was being leased by a Turkish operator to transfer workers to Spain.
Hundreds of technicians and manual labourers who boarded in Turkey were meant to be heading to work in a shipyard in Cadiz, southern Spain.
However, reportedly the ship was refused permission to dock in Spain after travel restrictions were put in place due to the deadly virus.
The ship then allegedly returned to Turkey where it was also told not to dock and so stopped at Piraeus, near Athens last week.
ANEK Lines have been contacted for comment.
The ship was named after Eleftherios Kyriakou Venizelos, a Greek statesman.
The cruise liner is the oldest in ANEK’s fleet and was built in 1984 in Poland.
The ship can hold a maximum of 2300 passengers and 850 cars.
Greece has 1,415 cases of coronavirus and 52 deaths.
It comes as a Briton died on a coronavirus stricken cruise ship which was heading to Florida.
A Briton was among four people who died on the ship which was heading to Florida.
The cruise ship Zaandam has nine people on board who have the virus and 189 more reporting flu-like symptoms.
