Emergency services in New Zealandย are working to locate people still missing in a landslide that hit a busy campsite at Mount Maunganui, a popular tourist spot on the northern coast of New Zealand.
Rubble barreled down on the Beachside Holiday Park at 9:30 a.m. local time on Thursdayย (2030 GMT/UTC Wednesday).
Hundreds of people were at the campsite, the local mayor said, with the country still on summer school holidays.
New Zealand’s Fire and Emergency commander William Pike said there were initially signs of life at the site of the landslide, but not recently, according to local site, Stuff.
Fire and Emergency Commander William Park had earlier told reporters that fire crew and other members of the public had heard voices under the rubble.ย
But rescue workers had to withdraw because of the unstable ground and nobody had been rescued yet, Stuff said.
Sniffer dogs are at the scene.
Children among those missing in landslide
Police said the number of people missing was in the single figures, with childrenย apparently among them, local media report.ย
One witness, Nix Jaques, told Radio NZ she heard an incredibly loud noise as she was โ about to walk up a mountain.
She saw land come down on cars and on toilet block, she said.ย
“I believe there were โsome people in โ the showers, and it shifted a campervan, there was a family with a campervan.”
Two missing in separate landslide
Two other people are still missing in a separate landslide, which struck a house in neighboring Papamoa. One person was seriously injured in that in incident.ย
Separately, another person was missing after being washed away in their vehicle north of Auckland, the main city on New Zealand’s north island.
Heavy rains along the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island over the past day caused widespread damage and left thousands without power. Fire and Emergency NZ said its crews had responded to 236 weather-related call outs since the early hours of Thursday. It warned people not to drive through floodwaters.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar