The Trump administration chartered a private yacht at a cost of $750,000 to evacuate a single American citizen from a remote South Pacific island, a move that has further strained the State Department’s emergency budget.
The woman had been aboard a cruise ship at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak and was potentially exposed to the virus.
The American citizen, who may have contracted the virus aboard the Dutch MV Hondius cruise liner in April, disembarked and traveled to San Francisco before making her way to the isolated British territory of Pitcairn Island via Tahiti.
This information comes from two U.S. officials and an internal government document obtained by The Associated Press.
The full cost of the evacuation is still being calculated as the operation remains ongoing. Officials spoke anonymously due to U.S. privacy laws concerning medical cases.
This expensive undertaking has exacerbated the financial pressure on the State Department’s emergency budget, known as the “K Fund.”
The fund has been depleted by rapid evacuations of diplomats and private U.S. citizens from the Middle East since the start of the Iran war, as well as preparations for potential evacuations from Ebola-stricken countries. Its balance now stands at its lowest level in seven years.
Another internal document said the State Department is considering transferring up to $50 million into that emergency fund from embassy security, construction, and maintenance budgets, and an additional $15 million from diplomatic programming funds.
A decision on these transfers has not yet been made. One official noted that another option is to request Congress to replenish the fund, though the department is expected to manage payments for both ongoing and “emerging contingency needs.”
While the official did not specify the potential shortfall, they asserted the department is “well positioned” to support diplomats, other U.S. government employees, and private Americans affected by the Iran conflict and the Ebola outbreak in Africa.
The State Department declined to comment on the specifics of the woman’s case on Pitcairn Island.
However, a spokesperson stated that “when an American is at risk abroad and unable to access commercial transportation, the Department of State seeks to provide appropriate assistance to get them home to the United States or to another safe location.”
After the woman left the cruise liner, the ship continued its journey, with some passengers falling ill and at least three fatalities reported.
The unidentified American woman found herself stranded on Pitcairn, an island with only about 50 inhabitants, no airport, and infrequent maritime transport options.
Pitcairn is historically significant as the refuge for Fletcher Christian and other British mutineers from the HMS Bounty after the 1789 events involving Captain William Bligh, a story immortalized in books and films.
Their descendants constitute most of the island’s current population. British authorities had urgently sought American assistance for the evacuation from their territory, according to the government document and a second U.S. official.
Initial attempts to transport her to Tahiti, a French dependency approximately 1,350 miles (2,160 kilometers) away, were rejected by French Polynesian authorities.
They cited her failure to disclose her potential exposure while transiting the island en route to Pitcairn.
The U.S. is now transporting the woman, who remains asymptomatic, from Pitcairn to Easter Island, another remote Pacific location about 1,400 miles (2,253 km) distant.
Easter Island, a Chilean territory, offers direct flights to Santiago, facilitating her return to the United States for any necessary treatment.
Officials confirmed that arranging this complex transfer from Pitcairn to Easter Island took many weeks.
The government document, verified by the two officials, confirmed the woman’s transport was ultimately arranged via the “Titaina Explorer,” a trimaran yacht owned by a wealthy Frenchman who uses it for personal exploration in the South Pacific, given Pitcairn’s limited access.
Officials stated the woman had no political or celebrity connections and could not confirm her exact return date to the U.S. Maritime tracking data shows the Titaina Explorer departed Pitcairn Island on June 5, with the voyage to Easter Island potentially taking up to 10 days depending on conditions.
