Rescue work will continue through the night, officials say
Rescue work will continue through the night, officials say
At least two people have died and several are reported to be missing, including a young child, after landslides in New Zealand, officials said on Thursday.

It comes after high winds and heavy rainfall over the past few days on the North Island, leading to multiple power outages and widespread flooding, local media reported.

The first landslide hit a house in the community of Welcome Bay on New Zealand's North Island at 4.50am, police said.

Two people escaped the house, and the bodies of two who were trapped inside were recovered hours later, Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell said.

Later the same morning, emergency services were called to a second slide at the base of nearby Mount Maunganui.

The rubble hit Beachside Holiday Park, where a number of people in the "single figures" are missing.




Images showed vehicles, travel trailers and an amenities block crushed by debris.

As of Thursday evening, no survivors or bodies had been recovered from the Mount Maunganui rubble.

"There was a shower block and a, sort of, combined shower block-kitchen block and there were people using that at the time the slide came through and they are some of the ones that we're working hard to try and recover now," Mitchell told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

New Zealand's Fire and Emergency commander William Pike said that members of the public "tried to get into the rubble and did hear some voices".

He said that his crews "were able to hear the same. Shortly after our initial crew arrived, we withdrew everyone from the site due to possible movement and slip".

No sign of life had been detected since, Pike said.

Australian tourist Sonny Worrall said he was within the campground when he heard then saw the landslide.

"I looked behind me and there's a huge landslide coming down. And I'm still shaking from it now," Worrall told New Zealand 1News news service.

"I turned around and I had to jump out from my seat as fast as I could and just run."

He looked back to see the rubble carrying a travel trailer behind him.

"It was like the scariest thing I've ever experienced in my life," Worrall said.


Further north near Warkworth, a man remained missing after floodwaters swept him from a road Wednesday morning as heavy rain lashed large swathes of the North Island, a police statement said.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said New Zealand was "heavy with grief".

In a statement shared on social media, he said: "My thoughts this evening are with the families who have lost loved ones, and with those whose family members remain unaccounted for.

"These losses are deeply shattering, and New Zealand is heavy with grief."

He also praised the work of emergency responders, saying: "Amid this tragedy, we have once again seen the very best of New Zealand."