New Zealand: Campers missing after landslide
· DWA landslide has hit a busy campsite at New Zealand's Mount Maunganui, leaving several campers missing, with local media reporting children were among the victims.
Emergency services in New Zealand were on Thursday working to locate people still missing after a landslide hit a busy campsite at Mount Maunganui, a popular tourist spot on the northern coast of New Zealand.
"I can't be drawn on numbers," Assistant Police Commissioner Tim Anderson told reporters at the scene. "What I can say is that it is single figures."
Rubble barreled down on the Beachside Holiday Park at 9:30 a.m. local time on Thursday (2030 GMT/UTC Wednesday).
Hundreds of people were at the campsite at the time of the incident, the local mayor said.
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 news site, Stuff.
Fire crew and other members of the public had heard voices under the rubble, according to Fire and Emergency Commander William Park.
But rescue workers had to withdraw because of the unstable ground and nobody had been rescued yet, Stuff said.
"This is a complex and high-risk environment," added Megan Stiffler, a fire and emergency services official. "The teams will be operating overnight until the search is complete."
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 children apparently among them, local media report.
One witness, Nix Jaques, told Radio NZ she heard an incredibly loud noise as she was about to walk up a mountain.
She saw land come down on cars and on toilet block, she said.
"I believe there were some people in 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.
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