A landslide smashed into a campsite in rain-swept northern New Zealand on Thursday (Jan 22), leaving multiple people missing, police and rescuers said.
Mud had buried and crushed a shower block at the campsite, which lies at the foot of extinct volcano Mount Maunganui, video and photo images on local media showed.
Voices had been heard from beneath the rubble, emergency officials said.
“Whilst the land’s still moving there, they’re in a rescue mission,” Assistant Police Commissioner Tim Anderson told reporters at the scene.
“I can’t be drawn on numbers. What I can say is that it is single figures.”
The landslip hit several campervans and the shower block at the camp, which lies on the North Island in an area lashed by heavy overnight rain.
“I turned around, and I could see the land coming down onto some structures,” Nix Jaques, who was about to walk up the mountain, told public radio RNZ.
“There were some vehicles that were moved. It came down on an ablutions block. I believe there were some people in the showers. And it shifted a campervan,” she said.
The woman reportedly spoke to a couple who were missing a child in the disaster.
“PEOPLE SCREAMING”
People at the campsite had instantly tried to dig into the rubble and heard voices, Fire and Emergency commander William Pike told reporters.
“Our initial fire crew arrived and were able to hear the same,” he said.
But rescuers soon withdrew everyone from the site because of the risk of dangerous earth movements, the fire commander said.
Asked if voices had been heard since then, he said: “Not that I know of, no.”
Hiker Mark Tangney saw people fleeing the camp and ran to help, the New Zealand Herald reported.