Dutch refugee ship typhoid outbreak caused by sewage leak, investigation finds

Cruise ship used to house asylum seekers criticized by rights groups

Typhoid outbreak on Dutch asylum seeker ship raises questions about accommodation standards. EPA

A typhoid outbreak on an old cruise ship that housed asylum seekers in the Netherlands was caused by sewage leaking into the drinking water supply, according to an investigation.

Cases of fever and stomach pain were first reported on April 6, 2022, on the Liberty Ann cruise ship docked in the Dutch city of Haarlem, with nearly 350 people exposed to the bacteria, of whom 52 asylum seekers and 20 staff contracted typhoid fever.

All asylum seekers and staff were moved to other accommodation, and the outbreak investigation identified that the source of the contamination was sewage in the freshwater tank containing the drinking water.

The freshwater tank shared a wall with the wastewater tank holding sewage, which is against existing guidelines for such accommodation.

The common wall was severely corroded, with numerous small holes peeking through.

The Dutch government's use of ships for asylum seeker accommodation has been widely criticised by rights groups, and the results of the investigation come just days after the UK said it was considering using ferries and barges in a similar manner.

Anne de Vries, a disease control expert at the Municipal Health Service Kennemerland-Haarlem who helped lead the probe, said: "The source of the contamination was not easy to find".

Lacking a blueprint of the ship, it took numerous visits to locate the freshwater tank. While the holes were quite high, de Vries speculated that bad weather, such as Storm Eunice which pummelled the Netherlands in February 2022, could have led to "a lot of wastewater coming in."

The Dutch government announced last year that it would house asylum seekers on ships, a plan that rights groups slammed as "absurd."

The use of such accommodation in the Netherlands and other countries has been criticised for its poor conditions and inadequate facilities.

The UK government is now exploring the possibility of accommodating migrants in vessels such as ferries and barges in a bid to reduce hotel bills.

The plan has sparked concerns that asylum seekers will be subjected to inhumane living conditions, further exacerbating the existing issues with their treatment.