Passengers finally begin leaving cruise ship in Cambodia

SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia (AP) — Hundreds of cruise ship passengers long stranded at sea by virus fears cheered as they finally disembarked Friday and were welcomed to Cambodia by the nation's authoritarian leader, who handed them flowers.

Prime Minister Hun Sen agreed to let the Westerdam dock at the port of Sihanoukville on Thursday after Thailand, Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines had barred the ship earlier.

“How wonderful it is to be here. Thank you very much to the prime minister. He has a wonderful heart,” said Anna Marie Melon, from Queensland, Australia. “I’m very excited (to be here)," she said as she waved the rose Hun Sen handed to her.

The passengers cheered as they walked toward waiting buses and waved goodbye to other passengers watching from the ship’s deck.

The Westerdam was unwelcome elsewhere even though operator Holland America Line said no cases of the COVID-19 viral illness have been confirmed among its 1,455 passengers and 802 crew members.

Local officials told reporters 414 passengers will leave the port Friday and fly to Cambodia's capital before traveling to their final destinations. Three flights from Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh were arranged to take all the ship's passengers.

The COVID-19 illness has sickened tens of thousands of people in China and a few hundred elsewhere, including 218 on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which made stops in Hong Kong and other ports before arriving in Japan last week.

Some 20 passengers had reported stomachaches or fever, but tests done at the Pasteur Institute in Phnom Penh showed none had COVID-19.

Hun Sen said earlier he had let the Westerdam dock in Cambodia for humanitarian reasons.

A strong supporter of China, he has played down any threat from the new virus and even threatened to kick...