U.S. cruise passengers head to Nebraska for hantavirus monitoring

American citizens arrive onshore after being evacuated from the M/V Hondius in the Granadilla Port on Sunday in Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands, Spain. Chris McGrath/ hide caption toggle caption Chris McGrath/ Seventeen U.S. cruise passengers are expected to return stateside early Monday, after weeks aboard the M/V Hondius, the cruise ship at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak . The Americans are disembarking the cruise in the Canary Islands and boarding a medical repatriation flight, arranged by the U.S. government, bound for Nebraska. After landing at the Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, they'll head to the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) for an initial evaluation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . "For the passengers getting off the ship, I'd say, 'Welcome to Nebraska.' You are coming to the premier facility in the United States, if not the world, to take care of you," says Dr. Ali Khan, dean of the College of Public Health at UNMC. The 17 U.S. passengers are among the total of nearly 150 people who were on the ship from 23 different countries. They've endured in the midst of a hantavirus outbreak which has caused at least eight cases, including three deaths, according to the World Health Organization . The returning Americans had been isolating in their cruise cabins. They will now be monitored for several more weeks, U.S. health officials said in a media call on Saturday. …