Four Australians are stuck on a luxury cruise ship stranded off the coast of Cape Verde, after a suspected outbreak of a rare respiratory virus killed three people, left three others seriously ill and forced nearly 150 people from across the world to isolate onboard.

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In a press release overnight, the cruise line Oceanwide Expeditions revealed the nationality of those affected.

The medical situation began on April 11 when a Dutch man died on board. He was disembarked on St Helena on 24 April with his wife, who also later died.

On 27 April, a British man was evacuated to Johannesburg and is critically ill in hospital with a hantavirus infection.

On 2 May, a German passenger died on board the ship.

There are also two crew members, of British and Dutch nationality, still on board with “acute respiratory symptoms”.

The ship is sitting off the coast of Cape Verde, with local authorities not yet permitting those on board to leave.

The 149 people on board are of 23 different nationalities, with passengers predominantly American, British, Spanish and Dutch, with four people from Australia. Of the crew, 38 are from the Philippines.

Here’s an explainer of what hantavirus is: