Multiple people missing in New Zealand landslips

A LANDSLIDE smashed into a campsite in rain-swept northern New Zealand on Thursday, leaving multiple people missing under tons of mud.

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Mounds of earth buried a shower block at the site, which lies at the foot of extinct volcano Mount Maunganui.

Voices were briefly heard calling for help from beneath the rubble, witnesses and emergency officials said.

“While the land’s still moving there, they're in a rescue mission,’ assistant police commissioner Tim Anderson told reporters at the scene.

“I can't be drawn on numbers. What I can say is that it is single figures.”

Rescuers used heavy machinery to search for survivors after the disaster, which struck after overnight rain lashed the area on New Zealand's North Island.