Eva Gallot
January 22, 2026 — 9:56am
Tauranga: Emergency services say they will “work through the night until we’ve rescued anyone” at the site of a major campsite landslide in Tauranga on New Zealand’s North Island.
Fire and Emergency NZ commander William Park, Police District Commander Superintendent Tim Anderson, Emergency Minister Mark Mitchell and Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale spoke with reporters outside the scene of the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park landslip on Thursday.
Park said there were initially signs of life at the site, but not recently. A bystander had heard signs of life after trying to save people from the rubble when it initially happened. Nobody had been rescued yet.
“We’re going right through [the night] until we’ve rescued anyone,” Park said. …
Eva Gallot
January 22, 2026 — 9:56am
Tauranga: Emergency services say they will “work through the night until we’ve rescued anyone” at the site of a major campsite landslide in Tauranga on New Zealand’s North Island.
Fire and Emergency NZ commander William Park, Police District Commander Superintendent Tim Anderson, Emergency Minister Mark Mitchell and Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale spoke with reporters outside the scene of the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park landslip on Thursday.
Park said there were initially signs of life at the site, but not recently. A bystander had heard signs of life after trying to save people from the rubble when it initially happened. Nobody had been rescued yet.
“We’re going right through [the night] until we’ve rescued anyone,” Park said.
It was a significant landslip and the priority was life safety.
“It’s a complex and high-risk environment.”
Park said when emergency services responded the slip was still moving, and that they would try to de-layer part of the rubble.
Anderson said it was “possible we will find someone alive”. He couldn’t speak about the number of those unaccounted for, but said it was in “the single figures”. It could be days before those figures were publicly known.
“There’s certainly been some acts of bravery,” he said in relation to police efforts during the weather event.
Anderson said the landslide hit the back of the pools.
Emergency services continue to search for survivors.Lisette Reymer/StuffThe slip happened around 9.30am (7.30am AEDT).AP
Mitchell told reporters it had been “a challenging and a difficult 24 hours”, with the east coast of the North Island smashed by devastating weather.
“At the moment, we have the parents and the husband of people we’re currently trying to rescue in the campground,” he said.
“There’s got to be a high degree of sensitivity for the people sitting in the building behind us.”
Geoscientists were assessing the mountain to determine whether it was safe.
Some of the unaccounted for were people who had checked out of the holiday park without informing officials, Mayor Mahé Drysdale said.
He said the slip happened around 9.30am (7.30am AEDT) and there were hundreds of families at the campground at the time.
Anderson said police were working closely with Fire and Emergency NZ and urged residents and visitors to listen to advice from local officials and take it seriously.
Stuff.com
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