The cruise ship Viking Sun arrived in the Bay of Gibraltar on Good Friday to disembark seven passengers and one crewman, all of whom are of Canadian nationality.

The eight were transferred at sea and ferried to land, where they will catch today's BA flight to London before travelling home to Canada.

The transfer, which was announced earlier this week, follows a request from the Canadian High Commissioner in London.

There are no cases of Covid-19 on board the Viking Star and the ship has submitted a clear maritime declaration, therefore she is clear to enter port waters to conduct the operation.

This is the latest in a number of exemptions granted by the Gibraltar Port Authority on humanitarian grounds, with routine cruise calls banned under the Covid-19 lockdown regulations.

Earlier this week, the government said it had allowed a British sea cadet to disembark following a request from his MP in the UK. He too connected with the BA flight to London.

And on Thursday, a Gibraltar-resident 82-year old British man was allowed to disembark as his ship sailed through the Strait of Gibraltar after its round-the-world itinerary was cancelled due to the global pandemic.

A Spanish couple was also allowed off the same vessel so that they could cross into Spain and head home to Seville.

In all cases, there were no health concerns on any of the ships and the transfers were cleared by public health officials here.