For these vacationers, the trip had dragged on. After several weeks stranded at sea due to the coronavirus, hundreds of passengers from two cruise ships were finally able to set foot ashore on Monday, in the ports of Marseille, but also of Barcelona. 110 French in particular landed in the Catalan city, and were to join Montpellier in the evening.
>> LIVE - Coronavirus: follow the evolution of the situation Monday April 20
In Marseille, more than 1,700 passengers, including 700 French, disembarked from the Magnifica ship. However, the prefecture of Bouches-du-Rhône had refused to authorize the Costa Deliziosa ship of the Costa company to make an unexpected stop in the city, and the liner had to reach Barcelona.
450 French were on board the Costa Deliziosa, where no case of coronavirus was reported. But ultimately, 110 of them landed in Barcelona on Monday. Taken care of, they were then transported to Montpellier aboard a dozen buses escorted by the police and the Samu, and were to arrive in the evening. Before boarding, all these nationals received a mask and gloves, and there were no more than 15 per vehicle, to respect the safety distances. "We are delighted to put our feet back on the ground after a month," rejoices Yves, on board with his wife Mireille, at the microphone of Europe 1.
Many passengers want to collect their car in Genoa
Once in Montpellier, passengers will be greeted at the Corum cultural and conference center by teams from the Red Cross, firefighters, the prefecture and the city. They will be listed there before being distributed to several hotels in the city to spend the night. On Tuesday, a TGV will be made available to them to bring them back to their hometown.
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And the other French passengers? The majority did not descend to Spain, preferring to stay on the boat to disembark in the Italian port of Genoa, the starting point of the cruise, for most of them in order to recover their vehicle. Those who have no return solution should be repatriated Wednesday to Nice and Marseille, by bus.