Rescue teams search for survivors after Mauao campground collapse

Rescue crews are working through unstable rubble at Mount Maunganui after a massive landslide from Mauao swept into the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park, crushing campervans, cars, travel trailers, tents and an amenities block. The slip came as record-breaking rain lashed the North Island and followed an earlier slide that hit a house in Welcome Bay.

Early this morning about 4:50 a.m., a landslide struck a Welcome Bay home. Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell said two people escaped and two people later were recovered dead from the house. Later in the morning, at about 9:30 a.m., a larger slip came down from Mauao and smashed into the beachfront campground, officials said.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand declared the event a "major incident" and dispatched local, regional and national search-and-rescue teams. St John Ambulance also declared a major incident at the Mount Maunganui site. Crews from police, fire services, paramedics and specialist search teams are coordinating operations under difficult and shifting conditions. FENZ commander William Pike is leading operations at the scene and said crews will continue searching as conditions allow.

Initial rescue efforts reported voices heard beneath the rubble soon after the slide, but as of Thursday evening teams had not detected further signs of life and had not recovered bodies from the campground. Police Superintendent Tim Anderson provided public updates and said the number of people missing from the campground was in "single figures." Mayor Mahe Drysdale warned that those figures were changing as some people previously listed as unaccounted for left the site without notifying authorities; the campground has been closed.

Search assets on site include sniffer dogs and heavy machinery, with diggers used to move large debris while teams work cautiously at the margins. Emergency managers repeatedly warned that ground remained unstable and that shifting conditions were slowing and constraining search activity. Crews at times have had to suspend close-range searches because of the risk of further slips and falling material, and teams have been racing against fading daylight and ongoing hazardous weather.

The landslides occurred amid widespread flooding and storm damage across parts of the North Island. MetService issued a rare red weather warning for multiple regions, describing the conditions as a "threat to life." The extreme rainfall saturated slopes and contributed to multiple slips across the region. Authorities warned residents in affected valleys and coastal lowlands to follow evacuation orders and safety advice.

Australian tourist Sonny Worrall, who said he was at hot pools within the campground when the slide struck, described seeing a "huge landslide" and running for safety as the mass of earth carried a travel trailer behind him. Elsewhere, police reported a man remained missing near Warkworth after floodwaters swept him from a road earlier in the week.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon urged residents in affected areas to heed local authorities and said the government was mobilising resources to support communities. As night fell, search teams planned to recommence carefully as conditions permitted, while families and neighbours sought news of those unaccounted for. The operation is ongoing and officials said updates would be provided as searches progress and conditions allow further access to the devastated campground.