Today's Edition
MOUNT MAUNGANUI (AFP)
A landslide smashed into a campsite in rain-swept northern New Zealand on Thursday, leaving multiple people missing under tonnes of mud.
Mounds of earth 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 were briefly heard calling for help from beneath the rubble, witnesses and 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 camper vans and the shower block at the camp, which lies on the North Island in an area lashed by heavy overnight rain.
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."
