MOUNT MAUNGANUI, New Zealand — A rain-fueled landslide slammed into a seaside campsite on New Zealand’s North Island, burying a shower block and smashing several camper vans under tons of mud, with multiple people missing and rescuers racing against dangerously shifting ground.
The slide struck at the base of Mount Maunganui, an extinct volcanic cone in northern New Zealand, after heavy overnight downpours. Photos and video shared on local media showed a mound of saturated earth crushing the camp’s shower facility and pushing debris into the nearby Mount Hot Pools complex.
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Emergency crews initially reported hearing voices from beneath the rubble. People at the campsite had tried to dig into the wreckage when they first arrived, Fire and Emergency commander William Pike told reporters. “Our initial fire crew arrived and were able to hear the same,” he said. But responders soon pulled back because the hillside remained unstable. Asked whether voices had been heard since, Pike said: “Not that I know of, no.”
Assistant Police Commissioner Tim Anderson said authorities remained in a rescue phase, even as the ground continued to move. “Whilst the land’s still moving there, they’re in a rescue mission,” he told reporters at the scene. Police, fire and emergency personnel established a cordon and moved people out of the area as engineers assessed the slope and safety risks.
Canadian tourist Dion Siluch, 34, said he was inside the Mount Hot Pools complex when the hillside gave way. “I was in a massage at that mountain pool and the whole room started shaking,” Siluch said. “When I walked out, there was a caravan in the pool, and there’s a mudslide that missed me by about 30 feet.” He said he initially thought a vehicle had crashed into the site, before realizing “the mountain had collapsed and had pushed everything into the pool.” Police later arrived by helicopter and ordered evacuations, he said.
Hiker Mark Tangney told the New Zealand Herald he was among the first to clamber onto the damaged shower block with others, using tools to pry at the roof. “We could hear people screaming: ‘Help us, help us, get us out of here,’” he said. The screams later stopped, he added.
Authorities did not immediately confirm casualty figures or the number of people unaccounted for. The slope failure followed hours of heavy rain across the region, which can destabilize saturated soils and cliffs and trigger landslips along coastal and volcanic terrain common to the North Island.
Officials warned of ongoing hazards as the weather system lingered and the hillside continued to shift. The campsite and pools complex remained evacuated while geotechnical assessments and search planning continued. Additional equipment and specialist teams were being readied to resume operations once conditions allowed.
New Zealand’s rugged coastline and steep volcanic landscapes are prone to landslides during periods of intense rain, and emergency services often balance the urgency of search-and-rescue efforts with the risk of secondary collapses. On Wednesday, authorities asked the public to avoid the area to keep access clear for responders.
Siluch said he had noticed a smaller slide about an hour before the major collapse but did not think much of it at the time. “It was all very confusing,” he said.
Police and emergency officials said more information would be released as it becomes available.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
