The search device includes heavy machinery, dogs and air support with helicopters
New Zealand’s emergency services continued their search today for at least six people missing after the landslide that buried part of a campsite in the country’s North Island on Thursday.
Police and specialist teams are working “around the clock” in the area of the Mount Maunganui caravan park, where a slide of mud and debris hit a block of toilets, caravans and vehicles, Tim Anderson, deputy commissioner of the police district where the incident occurred, told the media today.
“The youngest of the missing is 15 years old,” Anderson declared during a press conference, avoiding going into details, but specifying that there are six people missing.
The police also mentioned that three other people did not register to leave the campsite, although he considered it “unlikely” that they were buried under the rubble.
“Although we do not believe they were involved in the landslide, further investigations are needed to rule out this possibility,” said the agent, requesting the public’s collaboration in locating the three people in question.
The search apparatus includes heavy machinery, dogs and aerial support with helicopters.
“We will not leave any stone unturned”, assured Anderson, who said that the search and rescue work could last “for days” and that, so far, no bodies have been recovered.
In turn, the New Zealand Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, thanked the rescuers and volunteers for their work and expressed his condolences for the two people (a grandmother and her grandson) who died in a second avalanche that affected Welcome Bay, in the town of Papamoa, also on the North Island.
“The pain is immense. I know the whole country is present today. Once again, my thanks to all the heroes working on rescue tasks,” Luxon said after visiting the caravan park.
Intense rain and strong winds this week affected vast areas of the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island, with roads cut in areas of Northland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty, and thousands of homes without electricity supply, according to reports from authorities and local media.
In addition to these incidents, a third person remains missing after a vehicle was swept away by water north of Auckland.
However, the local meteorological service warned that this weekend there could be new storms, episodes of rain and strong winds in several regions, with a risk of falling trees in saturated terrain.
