US Ambassador praises Cambodia for allowing ship to dock

US Ambassador to Cambodia W. Patrick Murphy on Saturday praised Cambodia for allowing a cruise ship to dock at Sihanoukville after being turned away by other Asian and Pacific governments. Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Guam had earlier turned the ship away because they feared its passengers and crew could spread the deadly new virus from China.

Murphy spoke to reporters after visiting passengers still on board the MS Westerdam cruise ship.

Meanwhile, passengers of the ship continued disembarking at Sihanoukville Port on Saturday.

After being stranded at sea for two weeks because five ports refused to allow the cruise ship to dock, the passengers of the MS Westerdam had started disembarking on Friday.

The authoritarian leader of Cambodia, Prime Minister Hun Sen, agreed to let the Westerdam dock.

The Westerdam's operator, Holland America Line, had said no cases of the virus had been confirmed among its 1,455 passengers and 802 crew members.

Hun Sen said he acted for humanitarian reasons and that he wanted passengers to be able to return to their home countries.

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, where it has been quarantined.

The Westerdam began its cruise in Singapore last month and its last stop before it was refused further landings was in Hong Kong, where 56 cases of the disease and one death have been confirmed.

Several hundred new passengers boarded the ship there for the second leg of the planned monthlong cruise.