Amsterdam plans to host at least 1,000 asylum seekers on a cruise ship after a crisis in migrant centers left people sleeping in the open. The city council said the huge ship will be moored in the Vestelijk Havengebied industrial zone, away from the city's canals and tourist attractions, for at least six months from October 1. The vessel could eventually accommodate up to 1,500 people if needed.

The announcement comes days after aid agencies warned of a humanitarian crisis at the Ter Apel migrant center in the northern Netherlands, where a three-month-old baby died last week.

"With the arrival of the cruise ship in Amsterdam, we are taking another step together in solving the crisis in the asylum chain," said Dutch Migration Minister Erik van der Burgh.

Amsterdam city council said in a statement that the plan, which is funded by the central government, "will help to address the worrying humanitarian situation in Ter Apel".

"The situation in Ter Appel is heartbreaking," Rutger Groot Wassink, councilor in charge of social affairs and refugees, said in a statement.

"Now we must together solve the lack of reception sites so that refugees can find a place."

Amsterdam is the second Dutch city to host refugees on a cruise after the municipality of Velsen-Nord, after the government first announced in July that it planned to seek asylum on board ships.

Over the weekend, Dutch authorities began busing asylum seekers from the Ter Apel center, where more than 700 people were sleeping outside the gates.

The crisis was largely caused by staff shortages after the government cut capacity during the coronavirus pandemic.