A cruise ship carrying 154 passengers and 40 crew was evacuated after it sprang a leak on a river in the eastern Netherlands early on Sunday morning, emergency services said.

All the passengers, mostly pensioners from Germany and Austria, were safely helped off the 110-metre long Britannia and taken to shelters.

The cause of the leak was not immediately known. No one was injured, a spokesman said.

The multi-deck cruise ship was on the IJssel river, 110 km east of the capital, Amsterdam, on its way to Cologne, Germany, when it ran into trouble.

Divers were on their way to determine the cause.-Reuters