[Source: Reuters]

New Zealand emergency crews continued to search on Friday for victims of a landslide that ripped through a busy campground on the country’s North Island and police said rescue efforts could take days.

Heavy rains triggered the landslide on Thursday at Mount Maunganui on the island’s east coast at 9:30 a.m. (2030 GMT on Wednesday), bringing soil and rubble down on the busy campsite, where families were enjoying summer school holidays.

Two people have lost their lives in the landslide, including a Chinese citizen, Chinese ambassador to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong said in a post on X.

New Zealand officials have not provided any details on fatalities, although police have said nine people may be missing, including children.

Images showed recreational vehicles and at least one structure crushed at the campsite.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Friday is visiting areas hit by the recent flooding.

Tauranga Mayor Mahe Drysdale told Radio New Zealand that while search-and-rescue teams had continued at the campground through the night, there had been no progress in finding missing people.

“That’s really hard, and we’re here with the families and as you can imagine, just that uncertainty of where they are and when we might have a result is pretty hard,” Drysdale said.

Drysdale said the area remained unstable. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell told Radio New Zealand it was a challenging and difficult environment.

He said police were checking if some campers may have left without informing authorities.

New Zealand Police Commissioner Richard Chambers told the New Zealand Herald the scale of the disaster and the risks at the site could delay rescue efforts.

“It could be days and we appreciate that everybody is anxious and waiting for their loved ones, and for some answers but we also have to be very careful,” Chambers said.

The landslide occurred after heavy rains soaked much of the North Island’s east coast this week and caused widespread damage.

A landslide in the neighbouring town of Papamoa killed two on Thursday, and a man was washed away with his vehicle north of Auckland on Wednesday.

Roads remained closed in some of the worst-hit areas, making some North Island towns inaccessible by land.

The civil defence organization in Tairawhiti District said in a social media post that people were walking over landslides to collect water and food from welfare hubs and warned against this due to fears of further landslides.

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