{"id":262755,"date":"2026-01-25T04:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T04:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/262755\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T04:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T04:42:11","slug":"new-zealand-authorities-working-to-identify-landslide-victims-as-six-presumed-dead-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/262755\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand authorities working to identify landslide victims as six presumed dead \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/new-zealand\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/new-zealand\">New Zealand<\/a> authorities said on Saturday they were working to identify victims of a \u200dlandslide that hit a busy campground on the country\u2019s North Island, after human remains were found overnight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Six \u200dpeople, including two teenagers, were presumed dead after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/weather-events\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/weather-events\">heavy rains<\/a> triggered Thursday\u2019s landslide at Mount Maunganui on the island\u2019s east coast, bringing down soil and rubble at the site in the \u200ccity of Tauranga, crowded with families on summer holidays.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Rescue efforts have ceased and a recovery operation \u2060is under way, police said, adding that it was unlikely any of those missing \u200cwere \u200bstill \u200dalive. No signs of life have been detected from the rubble since voices were heard by first responders on Thursday, according to police.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Chief coroner Anna Tutton said her office was now \u2060working to identify victims.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cI can\u2019t say how long the identification process will take \u2013 but \u2060I give my absolute assurance \u2060that we will work very carefully,\u201d Ms Tutton said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Prime minister Christopher Luxon said it was \u201cdevastating to receive the news \u200dwe have all been dreading\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cTo the families who have lost loved ones \u2013 every New Zealander is grieving with you,\u201d Mr Luxon posted on X.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The prime minister visited the site on Friday and met families of the victims.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Thirty-five crew, assisted by heavy machinery, were removing debris on Saturday after a partial slip in a section of the search \u200carea on Friday evening, \u200cFire and Emergency New Zealand said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Heavy rain forecast for the area on Saturday could present further challenges, and the work crew might have \u200cto withdraw from the search area for their safety, Fire and Emergency official Megan Stiffler said \u2060in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The heavy rain this week unleashed another landslide in the neighbouring suburb of Papamoa, killing two. \u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand authorities said on Saturday they were working to identify victims of a \u200dlandslide that hit a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,1261,43,40,38,41,39,18335],"class_list":{"0":"post-262755","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories","15":"tag-weather-events"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}