More than 1,400 British soldiers have boarded a chartered civilian passenger ferry to travel to a major military exercise in Germany, the first time the British Army has used civilian sea transport on this scale in over two decades.

Brigadier Ed Cartwright, commander of the 16th Air Assault Brigade, revealed that the British national suspected of having hantavirus in a remote island on the South Atlantic was running out of oxygen before a British army operation.

Military medics have daringly parachuted onto Britain's most isolated overseas territory to provide urgent healthcare following a suspected Hantavirus infection in a historic first for the UK armed forces.