{"id":575280,"date":"2026-08-20T22:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T22:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/575280\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T22:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T22:40:10","slug":"mount-maunganui-landslide-maccanico-family-almost-left-before-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/575280\/","title":{"rendered":"Mount Maunganui landslide: Maccanico family almost left before tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The review, released on Wednesday,<\/a> found the council \u201cmissed several opportunities\u201d to evacuate campers in the 24 hours before the disaster \u2013 starting from when a red heavy rain warning was issued.<\/p>\n

Davison described the landslide as \u201cpreventable\u201d and found the council knew of the risk to the campground, but systemic failures meant this was not appropriately managed.<\/p>\n

His report said Sharon and Max were holidaying in Mount Maunganui with Sharon\u2019s parents, Carmine and Natallia Maccanico.<\/p>\n

The family had planned to stay from January 17 to 29, initially camping in a tent on the ocean side of the park. <\/p>\n

On January 19, strong winds and forecasts of heavy rain prompted Carmine to go to the campground office and cancel their booking. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was encouraged by a member of the office staff to stay, saying that although the weather forecasts were bad, rather than leaving and returning home, they had the option of renting a caravan or a cabin at the campground,\u201d Davison\u2019s report said.<\/p>\n

They decided to rent a caravan until the storm passed, moving into one right beside the harbour amenities block.<\/p>\n

They stayed in the caravan on January 20 and 21, when the worst of the forecast heavy rain arrived. <\/p>\n

By the morning of January 22, the rain had stopped, and the family planned to move to a site away from the flooded areas.<\/p>\n

About 7am, Natallia noticed the water around their caravan had turned brown and muddy. <\/p>\n

An hour and a half later, she filmed muddy water and gravel from the slope above the amenities block and across the driveway. <\/p>\n

\"PhotosPhotos at the Mount Maunganui campsite taken early on January 22 show water spilling down the hill prior to the deadly landslide. Photo \/ Colin McGonagle<\/p>\n

The report recalled the blue skies that morning after the storm passed, but many campers had left or moved away from flooded areas, leaving the campground quieter than usual.<\/p>\n

About 9.20am, Sharon and Max grabbed clean clothes and headed off to the amenities block to have showers. <\/p>\n

Fellow camper Lisa Maclennan had also just gone in for a shower about then, and Susan Knowles, Jacqualine Wheeler and M\u00e5ns Bernhardsson were also in the amenity block.<\/p>\n

Shortly before 9.30am, a staff member heard a crack. They saw a p\u014dhutukawa tree sweep down the block and watched the landslide strike the amenities block \u201clike it was hit by a missile\u201d. <\/p>\n

The staff member ran to the slip and climbed on to the displaced roof of the building to help remove roofing iron. Another staff member called 111 and waded waist-deep into the mud, searching for people trapped in the debris.<\/p>\n

He recalled Sharon\u2019s mother screaming: \u201cThey\u2019re both in there.\u201d <\/p>\n

The report said a distressed Carmine was on the roof, desperately searching for his daughter.<\/p>\n

The staff member said twice the group fell silent to listen for sounds of anyone trapped by the landslide.<\/p>\n

The first time, he was \u201cfairly sure\u201d he heard a muffled sound.<\/p>\n

The second time, he heard nothing.<\/p>\n

\" Emergency services searching for people in the landslide debris.<\/p>\n

All six holidaymakers who were in or near the amenities building perished.<\/p>\n

In a statement via police on January 30, Sharon\u2019s parents described their daughter as \u201cbeautiful\u201d, highly respected, and having a great sense of humour. <\/p>\n

Natallia and Carmine said their hearts were \u201cbroken\u201d by the loss of their daughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne year ago, Sharon met the love of her life, Max. They very quickly formed a strong relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cMax became a treasured part of our family, and he looked after Sharon and made her feel so special.\u201d<\/p>\n

\" Pakuranga College student couple Max Furse-Kee and Sharon Maccanico, both 15, were killed in the January 22, 2026 landslide from Mauao into the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park. Photo supplied via Police<\/p>\n

A silver-linked bracelet<\/a> Sharon wore, inscribed with \u201cMax\u201d, also helped play a role in formally identifying her remains at a Coroner\u2019s Court victim identification hearing.<\/p>\n

Her dance community remembered her<\/a> as a gifted performer whose talent, passion and kindness left a lasting mark. <\/p>\n

She joined Auckland\u2019s RGD Studio in 2022 and became a core member of its top junior hip-hop crew. <\/p>\n

At 12, she and her crew placed ninth at the Hip Hop World Championships in Arizona.<\/p>\n

RGD Studio director Rebecca Gray described Sharon as a \u201crare soul\u201d who was \u201cexceptionally talented\u201d, kind and inclusive.<\/p>\n

Sharon was born in Italy and moved to New Zealand aged 8.<\/p>\n

The Herald understands her parents have moved back to Italy.<\/p>\n

\"AucklandAuckland teens Sharon Maccanico and Max Furse-Kee attended Pak\u016branga College. Photo \/ Max Furse-Kee<\/p>\n

In the week following the slip, Max Furse-Kee\u2019s mother Hannah Furse released a statement<\/a> via police that said the family took comfort in knowing he spent his final days with his girlfriend, whom he loved deeply.<\/p>\n

Furse said Max was \u201csuddenly and unimaginably taken from us\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe simply went to take a shower, in the wrong place at the wrong time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Furse described Max as a \u201cbeautiful soul\u201d who brought immense light, laughter and love to their lives, and she thanked those involved in the recovery effort.<\/p>\n

He was remembered at a memorial service<\/a> as a great friend who loved basketball. He was about to turn 16 and was excited about the prospect of getting his provisional driver\u2019s licence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The review, released on Wednesday, found the council \u201cmissed several opportunities\u201d to evacuate campers in the 24 hours…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[15408,9218,18987,24004,48901,2109,189,56662,101,283395,17707,13233,111,43,139,69,5976,14625,165,12628,4998,102],"class_list":["post-575280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-almost","tag-before","tag-camping","tag-coming","tag-decided","tag-family","tag-holiday","tag-landslide","tag-left","tag-maccanico","tag-maunganui","tag-mount","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-short","tag-summer","tag-their","tag-tragedy","tag-weather","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575280","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=575280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}