Wellington: Several people, including children, are missing after a massive landslide struck the Beachside Holiday Park at the base of Mount Maunganui in New Zealand\u2019s Bay of Plenty region on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell confirmed that search and rescue operations are ongoing. He described the event as a \u201ctragedy,\u201d noting that parents and the husband of some of those currently being rescued were at the campground at the time of the incident.<\/p>\n
Fire and Emergency New Zealand commander William Pike said rescuers initially heard voices under the debris, but no further contact has been made, and no survivors have yet been found.<\/p>\n
The landslide swept through campervans, cars, tents, hot pools, and a shower block at around 9:30 a.m. local time, prompting evacuations across the site. Emergency services are continuing efforts to locate anyone who may still be trapped.<\/p>\n
The landslip followed Tauranga\u2019s heaviest single day of rainfall on record, with 270mm recorded in the 24 hours leading up to 9 a.m. Heavy rain and flooding overnight have affected parts of the North Island, leaving thousands without power and isolating communities along the east coast and in Northland.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon urged residents in affected areas to follow local authorities\u2019 safety instructions amid the extreme conditions. He wrote on social media: \u201cExtreme weather continues to cause dangerous conditions across the North Island. Right now, the government is doing everything we can to support those impacted.\u201d<\/p>\n
New Zealand has faced destructive storms and flooding this week, with the Mount Maunganui area recording its wettest day on record\u2014two-and-a-half months\u2019 worth of rain falling in just 12 hours.<\/p>\n
Mayor Mahe Drysdale described the landslide as a \u201cdeeply distressing event\u201d and said ensuring the safety and wellbeing of those involved is the top priority.<\/p>\n
With IANS inputs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wellington: Several people, including children, are missing after a massive landslide struck the Beachside Holiday Park at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[143726,56662,143724,111,143725,43,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-245919","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-holiday-park","9":"tag-landslide","10":"tag-mount-maunganui","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-new-zealand-campsite","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}