Multiple people missing in landslides

A landslide smashed into a campsite in rain-swept northern New Zealand yesterday, leaving multiple people missing under tonnes of mud.

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A general view shows a landslide while a search is underway by local emergency services for missing people at Mount Maunganui in Tauranga yesterday.AFP

(AFP)

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.

"Whilst 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.