![\"Several](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JUERUE_mountslip_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nSeveral people are unaccounted for following a slip near a campsite in Mount Maunganui.
\nPhoto: Shirley Thomas\n<\/p>\n
Several people are missing after a landslide came down on several structures at campground at the base of Mauao, Mount Maunganui.<\/p>\n
Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell has confirmed a young girl was among the missing, and RNZ understands other children may be unaccounted for.<\/p>\n
There are sniffer dogs at the scene as emergency services try to find anyone trapped in the slip at the Beachside Holiday Park,<\/p>\n
The slip came down around 9.30am, hitting campervans, cars, tents and a toilet and shower blocked.<\/p>\n
A Tauranga resident living near the campground said she watched emergency staff digging through the mud.<\/p>\n
Robyn, who lives in an apartment nearby, said nobody had been found yet.<\/p>\n
![\"General](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JUERL0_MOUNT_002_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nGeneral view of the event at Mount Hot Pools, Mt Maunganui.
22 January 2026 Photograph by Alan Gibson
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Alan Gibson\n<\/p>\n
People were digging through the dirt for about an hour before stopping, she said.<\/p>\n
She said she saw ambulances leaving the scene without anybody inside, but police were still at the scene.<\/p>\n
Tauranga Mayor Mahe Drysdale said it was an evolving situation.<\/p>\n
“We’re having to work through all the lists of those who are checked in… we don’t know the exact number.<\/p>\n
“The ablution block is the biggest area of concern, but there is a campervan and tents that were around that area as well.”<\/p>\n
A witness, Nix Jaques, was about to walk up the mountain when she heard an incredibly loud noise.<\/p>\n
“I turned around and I could see the land coming down onto some structures,” she said<\/p>\n
“There were some vehicles that were moved. It came down on an ablutions block – I believe there were some people in the showers – and it shifted a campervan, there was a family with a campervan.”<\/p>\n
She spoke to a couple missing a child and tried to help in the early stages but said emergency services arrived quite quickly afterwards.<\/p>\n
St John declared a major incident and there police, firefighters and ambulance workers at the scene.<\/p>\n
Fire and Emergency’s shift manager Paul Radden said 40 firefighters, including urban search and rescue team, were responding.<\/p>\n
The slip was in the south-eastern corner of the holiday park.<\/p>\n
The Mount Maunganui Surf Life Saving Club was being used as a triage centre and evacuation point.<\/p>\n
The rest of the campsite has been evacuated.<\/p>\n
Bay of Plenty MP Tom Rutherford confirmed there were people unaccounted for.<\/p>\n
He asked members of the public to keep those impacted in their thoughts – and not to come to the area to allow clear access for rescuers.<\/p>\n